As in the Netherlands, house prices in Germany continue to rise unabated despite the corona crisis. Last October, the Netherlands saw the largest annual price rise in eighteen months and Germany the largest annual price rise in as many as four years. The reasons for this and general trends are somewhat similar to the housing market in the Netherlands.
Research by German statistics agency Destatis shows that house prices in Germany were on average 7.8% higher in the third quarter of 2020 than a year earlier. Since the fourth quarter of 2016, house prices in Germany have not risen so fast.
As the main underlying reason for the recent price increases, the scarcity in the housing market is cited, as in the Netherlands. Indeed, in Germany too, too few new homes have been added to the existing housing stock in recent years. In addition, as in the Netherlands, monetary policy, government policy and the change in housing preferences play an important role in this.
A similar trend in Germany is the change in housing preferences. For instance, in Germany too, people are increasingly moving to rural areas. Indeed, house prices in the peripheral municipalities are many times lower than in the big cities. The corona crisis may possibly bring about a structural change in this. In the long run, this could cause a rise in house prices in the peripheral municipalities.
De prijsstijgingen van Nederland en Duitsland liggen de afgelopen decennia dichtbij elkaar. Opvallend is wel dat de prijsstijgingen in Duitsland over de afgelopen jaren stabieler zijn. Dit heeft hoofdzakelijk te maken met de grote regionale verschillen en het verschil in het overheidsbeleid met betrekking tot de ruimtelijke planning.
Bronnen: https://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2020-11/statistisches-bundesamt-immobilienpreise-immobilien-deutschland-corona-krise , https://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/soziales/immobilien-in-deutschland-teure-haeuser-billiges-geld-kolumne-a-eb32bf74-29ac-4bb5-8610-fe891880c2a1, Destatis & Centraal Planbureau