How long can I still afford my apartment?
Anyone who wants to live in a big city has had to deal with rising rents for years. Biggest increase: In Berlin, rents rose by a full 42 percent from 2016 to 2021! Current figures also show: even in smaller cities, rents are rising rapidly in some cases.
In the past five years, rents have become more expensive in all 80 cities examined. In 34 cities, people looking for accommodation currently have to pay at least 20 percent more than they did in 2016. This is the result of an analysis by the portal “Immowelt“(Apartments 40 to 120 square meters, all years of construction).
Berlin: catch-up effects after rent cap
Front runner Berlin: While tenants still had to pay asking rents of an average of 9.00 euros in 2016, now 12.80 euros per square meter are due across all apartment types and years of construction (+42 percent!). And this despite the fact that the rent cap has been introduced in the meantime and the asking rents of regulated existing apartments have fallen since the law was announced in June 2019 until recently. There have been significant catch-up effects since the rent cap was dropped in April 2021.
Most expensive cities with steep increases
In the already expensive cities of all places, rents have made another big leap in the past five years: in Munich from 15.50 euros to 19.20 euros (plus 24 percent), in Frankfurt/Main plus 16 percent and Stuttgart plus 27 percent.
However: in all three cities, rents rose only slightly, especially in the past year. From 2020 to 2021, Munich shows an increase of two percent and Stuttgart of three percent. In Frankfurt, the asking rents have even remained the same. Also in Hamburg After an increase of 19 percent in the past five years, the price curve has recently flattened somewhat with a plus of three percent.
In Cologne However, this trend cannot be observed: Much of the increase of 21 percent comes from last year. In the first half of 2020 alone, rents rose by eight percent.
Smaller cities with strong growth
With the exception of Berlin, the largest percentage increases tend to be in smaller cities. So close Heilbronn (plus 38 percent) and Offenbach (plus 30 percent) are gradually moving towards the metropolises: rents have cracked the 11 euro mark in both cities. Freiburg (plus 26 percent) and Heidelberg (plus 25 percent) are even among the top 10 most expensive cities with square meter prices of EUR 13.00 and EUR 12.50 respectively. In Hildesheim (+33 percent) and Kaiserslautern (+28 percent), however, the price level is still low despite major leaps: a square meter costs just under eight euros in both cities.
And the east?
In most of the major cities in East Germany, the rent increases are limited – with one exception: In Leipzig asking rents climbed by 22 percent in the past five years. The Saxon city is very popular with young adults and families thanks to its attractive leisure and cultural offerings as well as its renowned university. The population is increasing. The increased demand for housing is the main cause of the rise in prices. Nevertheless, the price level is still comparatively low. The square meter price is currently at 7.20 euros. In Dresden (plus 13 percent) rents are more expensive despite a significantly lower increase: 7.90 euros are currently being charged in the state capital.
In general, the cities with the least changes include numerous large east German cities: In Magdeburg and Halle (plus nine percent) are only slightly above the inflation rate of eight percent in the same period. Chemnitz (plus six percent) and Rostock (plus three percent) are even lower.
* To put it into perspective: inflation is eight percent in the same period. The rental prices are net rents for new rentals of the properties advertised on immowelt.de
– .
