Berlin 2015 - Berlin Hyp

Transcription

Housing Market Report
Berlin 2015
with Housing Cost Atlas
Berlin: strong demand, smaller but
more diverse supply
On the Berlin housing market, investor and resident demand continues to increase. The main reasons
behind this are growth in both population and numbers of households, as well as improved economic
performance and purchasing power. Investors’ intense interest in residential property is based on
prices, which are still moderate by international comparison, the positive expectations for the city,
low interest rates, and the shortage of alternative investments.
However, the focus of this demand is shifting. In previous years, rental growth was concentrated
in particularly sought-after city-centre districts. In some of these, the growth potential has been exhausted: the pressure of demand is moving from the prime locations to the mainstream. It has become
considerably stronger in locations adjacent to the city centre, in districts with good transport links outside the centre, and also in cheaper peripheral locations. This spatial trend is also reflected in property
categories: in percentage terms, upscale apartments saw a low increase in asking rents, whereas the
increase for modest apartments was particularly high.
The prices of condominium apartments, particularly in inner-city locations, are also rising. Apparently,
well-off apartment hunters are shifting their demand from rental to condominium apartments. This is
not least because, at present interest rates, the monthly payments after purchase can be lower than
the rent on a comparable apartment. As in the previous year, new development has sharply increased.
Although each new apartment relieves the existing market, new development is still lagging behind
the growth in demand. Still concentrated in particular districts, developers are primarily active in the
upmarket condominium segment.
These and many other trends and background factors are presented in the Housing Market Report
Berlin, which, for the first time this year, is a joint publication of Berlin Hyp AG and CBRE GmbH. It is
based on more than 100,000 offers of rental and condominium apartments as well as apartment
buildings in the first three quarters of 2014. All rental apartments have been assigned to one of the
190 Berlin postcodes. This enables small-scale analyses and observation of trends in particular
locations. In addition to rents per square metre, the report also analyses data on apartment sizes
and purchasing power in the locality, and their relationship with each other.
The report provides orientation for all players in the Berlin market but should also contribute to more
objective discussions. These includes the overheating of the Berlin market feared by some, which,
although evident in certain instances, is not a widespread phenomenon. It should also be emphasised
that, although rents have increased, purchasing power in the city is also rising, so that housing costs
are increasing only slightly as a proportion of household budgets. This proportion also tends to increase with purchasing power in the districts concerned. Higher-earning households usually invest
a larger proportion of their money in housing. In contrast, in districts with weaker purchasing power,
the proportion of income spent on rent is considerably lower, despite the increasing strains on the
market. There continue to be many modest, budget-priced apartments in the city.
We hope you will find the report interesting reading!
Gero Bergmann
Dr. Henrik Baumunk
Director
Managing Director
Berlin Hyp AG
CBRE GmbH
Housing Market Report | 2015 | Berlin 01
City comparison
03 | Berlin is catching up to other cities
in terms of purchasing power and rents.
Compared to other major German cities,
however, the housing market in the capital
is still relatively relaxed
Berlin as a location
04 | The positive trend in the city’s demographic and economic development continues. But wide gaps persist, both across the
city districts, and among residential areas
within a single district
Ownership structure
06 | Berlin’s housing providers are a large,
heterogeneous group, in which private providers make up the majority. The proportion
of apartments with special conditions for
rent levels and allocation remains high
Rents, purchase prices, investments,
transactions, and financing
08 | Rent increases remain significant and
are expanding to affect more areas. Purchase
prices for apartments and houses continue
to climb. Internationally, Berlin remains an
attractive investment location. Overall, the
financing market is lively and stable
New construction
14 | New construction activity maintained
its momentum in 2014. The Mitte district
remains a focal point for residential property
development in the city
Housing Cost Atlas: Introduction
18 | Local trends in the German capital.
Detailed analysis of rents, purchasing
power, and housing cost burden in Berlin’s
190 postcodes
Berlin’s 12 districts and their
190 postcodes
20 | Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf
24 | Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
26 | Lichtenberg
28 | Marzahn-Hellersdorf
30 | Mitte
34 | Neukölln
36 | Pankow
38 | Reinickendorf
40 | Spandau
42 | Steglitz-Zehlendorf
44 | Tempelhof-Schöneberg
46 | Treptow-Köpenick
02 Housing Market Report | 2015 | Berlin
Explanation of rent maps
48 | Top spots, trendy areas, cheap city
centre locations, leafy suburbs, exclusive
residential zones – Berlin’s neighbourhoods
are diverse
Rent map for Berlin as a whole
Cover | Berlin’s various price levels and
location types at a glance. Expensive locations are expanding, but the city still boasts
plenty of affordable options
Exceptional residential areas
Cover | An overview of the cheapest and
most expensive areas, the biggest and
smallest apartments on offer, and the
neighbourhoods with the highest and
lowest purchasing power, as well as data
on housing cost ratios
City comparison: Purchasing power and rents
in Berlin catching up rapidly
Despite the growing demand for housing and
the distinct signs of shortage, Berlin still has the
most relaxed housing market of all the seven major German cities. Vacancy is higher than in the six
next-largest cities and asking rents considerably
lower. The city’s economy is continuing to make
up ground, although there are constraints on
stronger rental growth, including the lowest purchasing power index and the highest unemployment rate of the seven largest cities.
erage purchasing power in the relevant city.
Although household sizes in the seven cities are
not absolutely identical, the link between rental
values and purchasing power is unmistakeable.
The average purchasing power in Cologne is 15 per
cent higher than in Berlin, while asking rents per
square metre are 14 per cent higher. Households
in Hamburg have more than 20 per cent additional
disposable income and have to face advertised
rents that are 22 per cent greater. In Stuttgart, purchasing power is 23 per cent more than in Berlin
and asking rents are 25 per cent higher.
The low rents in Berlin stem not only from economic factors but also from the city’s political, social and architectural legacy. There is an appreciable proportion of Plattenbau (prefab concrete
construction) buildings in the east and (former)
social housing in the west of the city, with mostly
similarly frugal architecture, ambience, and quality of accommodation. Although many areas with
older buildings have an urbane ambience, they
often feature apartments with poor natural light,
mediocre amenities and impractical layouts. Until 1990, there was virtually no privately-financed
construction of apartment buildings in the east
of the city and very little in the west. New developments and refurbishments since then have
enabled Berlin to catch up in terms of quality, justifying higher rents and prices. On the demand
side, the influx of affluent apartment hunters and
international investors, as well as the improved
economic situation of Berliners, have likewise resulted in an upward trajectory.
Asking rents comparable in Dusseldorf,
considerably higher in Frankfurt and Munich
Compared with the local affluence, rental values
in Dusseldorf are relatively low. Purchasing power
there is 27 per cent higher than in Berlin, while advertised rents are only 8 per cent higher. Inverse
relationships apply in Frankfurt and Munich: from
the tenant’s perspective, the ratio of purchasing
power to asking rent in the tense housing markets
is considerably less favourable than in Berlin. Purchasing power in Frankfurt is 22 per cent higher,
while asking rents per square metre are 40 per
cent more. Households in Munich have, by a wide
margin, the highest purchasing power in the seven
major cities – 43 per cent higher than in Berlin.
However, asking rents are 66 per cent greater.
Both purchasing power and rents in Berlin are expected to continue to rise. The ratio between the
two could also change. Within the city, as well as
by comparison with other cities, it is evident that
asking rents increase as purchasing power rises.
Higher earners are prepared to spend a larger proportion of their income on housing. A rising proportion of housing costs does not necessarily imply a financial shortfall; it can also be an indicator
of increasing affluence in the city.
In many cities, greater purchasing power
correlates with higher asking rents
The average asking rent in Berlin has been rising
more strongly than in most other large cities recently, although still mainly well below their level.
Rental values are usually proportionate to the av-
Berlin: Lower purchasing power – lower asking rents
Key figures for Germany‘s seven largest cities
City
Residents1)
2013
Purchasing power
index 2014,
Germany = 100
Average asking
rent 3) 2014, in
€/m 2/month
Vacancy rate 2)
2013, in %
Average area of
apartments listed 3)
2014 in m 2
Newly finished
apartments 4) 2013,
per 1,000 residents
100
Berlin
3,421,829
93.8
1.8
8.55
70.6
Dusseldorf
598,686
118.7
1.6
9.23
74.5
1.7
Frankfurt a. M.
701,350
114.8
0.7
12.00
75.7
3.5
Hamburg
1,746,342
112.9
0.7
10.43
70.1
2.5
Cologne
1,034,175
107.7
1.2
9.77
69.4
2.1
Munich
1,407,836
133.6
0.4
14.17
71.1
4.2
604,297
115.2
1.2
10.71
72.5
1.6
Stuttgart
0.8
1) as of 31.12 2) vacancies in apartment buildings on the active market 3) data collection period: Q1-Q3 4) in residential buildings with three or more apartments
Sources: CBRE-empirica vacancy index, CBRE based on data from empirica-systeme, Michael Bauer Research, Federal Statistics Offices, State Statistical Offices
Continued economic growth coupled with steady
population increase
The economy, the employment market and incomes in Berlin are growing; the population is
rapidly increasing. Although the city has not yet
quite overcome all the effects of its division and
the upheavals after German reunification, in ever
more areas it is catching up with other major European cities. Berlin is a national and international centre of politics, culture, academia, and
tourism. Not least, the expanding affluence of
the residents of the once poor city is attracting
more and more people from other regions. “All in
all, Berlin is one of the most exciting and, in many
respects, most promising locations in Europe,”
said Gero Bergmann, Member of the Management
Board of Berlin Hyp AG.
The upswing in the city stems not only from the
boom in a single economic sector but from parallel trends in several sectors. Berlin is firmly established as the seat of government and parliament,
associations, the media, and many other capital
city institutions. However, the largest individual
sector of the economy is tourism, in which Berlin
is in third place in Europe, behind London and
Paris. More than 275,000 jobs in the hospitality
Berlin Hyp
Berlin Hyp specialises in high-volume real estate financing for professional investors and housing companies, providing them with individually tailored finance
solutions. As an affiliate of the German savings banks, it also offers these financial
institutions a comprehensive range of products and services. Its clear focus, almost
150 years of experience, and close relationship with the Savings Banks Finance
Group make Berlin Hyp one of Germany’s leading real estate banks and issuers
of Pfandbriefe.
Berlin Barometer
7
5
3
4
2
1
11
10
6
Built-up space
Water
Positive employment market trend
Although Berlin still has the highest unemployment rate among the German federal states, its
employment market is developing better than
anywhere else in Germany. The number of unemployed has fallen by almost a third since 2005.
Analogous to the reduction in unemployment, the
number of employees paying social insurance
contributions increased by 3.3 per cent between
mid-2013 and mid-2014, compared with growth
of only 1.9 per cent in Germany as a whole.
The city is increasingly attractive for highly-qualified people, for ambitious young talent, and as
an academic centre, with its numerous renowned
universities. In 2013, Berlin recorded a net inward
District
8
9
industry, retail, and transport are directly based
on tourism.
Even industry is growing again after languishing
for a long period. It employs more than 105,000
people and exports around 55 per cent of its
products. Important sectors include vehicle and
engine-building, pharmaceuticals, and medical- and electrotechnology. A third of all patents
applied for in Berlin are in electrotechnology.
There is also a lively culture of entrepreneurship
in other sectors: around 40,000 new companies
are founded each year in Berlin, the highest ratio
by population of all the federal states. These developments in many individual fields add up to a
positive overall trend. Ten years ago, Berlin was
one of the worst performers in terms of economic
growth in Germany; it has now become the leader
among the federal states.
Forest/park
12
Residents
2013 1)
Population density
per km 2
20131)
1 Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf
302,313
4,671
2 Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
263,526
12,959
3 Lichtenberg
262,760
5,042
4 Marzahn-Hellersdorf
251,007
4,063
5 Mitte
337,593
8,553
6 Neukölln
311,943
6,943
7 Pankow
371,438
3,604
8 Reinickendorf
246,412
2,759
9 Spandau
222,300
2,420
10 Steglitz-Zehlendorf
284,313
2,772
11 Tempelhof-Schöneberg
324,208
6,105
244,016
1,449
3,421,829
3,837
12 Treptow-Köpenick
Berlin total
1) as of 31.12, based on census data 2) average forecast variant 3) all employable civilians 4) in residential buildings with three or more apartments
migration of nearly 42,000, increasing its population to 3.4 million by the end of that year. The
upward trend has continued unbroken since 2005.
The population of the city is expected to reach
around 3.76 million by 2030, although the actual
trend is already well ahead of the forecast. The
number of households, a significant figure for the
housing market, could rise proportionally faster.
The trend to smaller household sizes is continuing and an increasing proportion of senior citizens are living alone. “It is clear that Berlin must
adapt to continuing heavy demand for housing,”
said Dr. Henrik Baumunk, Head of Residential Valuation at CBRE.
Districts have different trends
There are very different population and employment trends in the city’s 12 districts. The greatest inward migration in 2013 was registered in
the Mitte district, which gained around 5,700
residents in one year from migration alone. Berlin’s central district is particularly well-known and
sought-after by newcomers. Currently, it is also
the most important location for residential development projects.
In second place regarding gain from migration
was Pankow. The district includes large areas of
potential development land, both for major projects and for individual houses. Prenzlauer Berg is
also still attractive. Smaller gains from migration
were recorded in the peripheral districts of Treptow-Köpenick and Marzahn-Hellersdorf, although
even there, newcomers considerably exceeded
those moving away.
Population development
from 20131) to 20121),
absolut
CBRE: Leading valuer of residential property
CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered
in Los Angeles, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (in terms of 2013 revenue). The Company has approximately 44,000 employees (excluding affiliates), and serves real estate owners, investors, and occupiers through approximately 350 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. CBRE offers
strategic advice and execution for property sales and leasing; corporate services;
property, facilities, and project management; mortgage banking; appraisal and
valuation; development services; investment management; and research and consulting. CBRE Residential Valuation Germany is a market leader in residential property valuation. In 2013, around 940,000 residential units, with a volume of approximately €54 billion were appraised. Please visit our website at www.cbre.com.
There are considerable differences in unemployment between districts. The highest unemployment rates recorded in 2013 were 16.2 per cent
in Neukölln and 14.3 per cent in Reinickendorf. At
the lower end of the scale, with rates under 10 per
cent, were Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Treptow-Köpenick
and Pankow, with their high proportions of green
space and single houses. A positive factor is that,
in the previous year, only one district was below
the 10 per cent mark, while this year three districts are below that limit.
According to expert forecasts, Berlin’s economy
will enjoy a positive trend for the foreseeable future. The wide-ranging structure of the economy
makes it less susceptible to crises than cities that
are heavily dominated by cyclical economic sectors. The city emerged from the 2009/10 recession relatively unscathed. In the future, despite
the deficits that still need to be reduced, the outlook for Berlin will remain positive.
Unemployment rate 3),
average 2013 in %
Population forecast 2)
2011 – 2025,
change in %
Permits for building
new apartments 4)
2013
Newly finished
apartments 4)
2013
+3,746
+6.1
10.4
436
+4,043
+8.6
13.1
1,581
217
+4,174
+6.8
10.8
408
308
+2,221
+4.4
11.0
190
28
+7,624
+9.1
13.1
1,764
780
+3,601
+6.2
16.2
359
9
+6,644
+14.3
9.6
1,426
535
+3,173
196
+1.9
14.3
106
16
+3,365
+5.4
13.3
109
0
255
+2,709
+5.8
9.8
201
+3,291
+2.7
10.6
215
39
+2,016
+7.8
9.7
1,132
246
+46,607
+6.8
11.7
7,927
2,629
Sources: Berlin-Brandenburg Statistics Office, Federal Employment Office (unemployment rate), Senate Administration for Urban Development and Environment (population forecast), compiled by: CBRE
Ownership structure: Diverse landlords,
many regulations on rent contracts
Landlords of apartments in Berlin are not a homogeneous unit; rather they belong to groups
that operate under diverse general conditions.
Their differing procedures and outlooks have an
important effect on current market events and
the future structure of the stock of rental housing
in the city.
In its latest survey in 2012, the Berlin Senate
Department for Urban Development and the Environment registered around 1,616,000 rental
apartments (around 84 per cent of the total housing stock in Berlin). Municipal companies owned
17 per cent of these, almost 12 per cent were
owned by housing associations. Together they
own over 450,000 units: more than a quarter of
all rental apartments in Berlin. In addition there
is an unknown number of federally-owned apartments in the city.
Privatisations and demolitions between 1990
and 2011 reduced the size of this submarket. In
this period, the State of Berlin alone sold around
230,000 apartments. Since 2011, however, the
non-profit-oriented segment of the market has
slowly expanded through developments and acquisitions. The municipal landlords want to increase their stock to some 300,000 apartments
by 2017, financed by increased borrowing and
a federal state-owned development fund, with
which about 1,000 apartments each year should
be subsidised.
These will not necessarily be conventional social housing with fixed rents and defined income
limits on entry. According to CBRE’s calculations, in 2012 there were almost 168,000 social
rental apartments, of which 22 per cent were municipal and 6 per cent were housing association
units. A further 121,300 apartments owned by
communal housing companies or associations
in the eastern districts of Berlin were subject to
an occupancy commitment in accordance with
the Berlin Belegungsbindunggesetz (occupancy
commitment act) on the basis of the Altschuldenhilfegesetzes (a federal act that aids regulation
of housing association debts dating from GDR
times). This means that they may only be relet to
a holder of a Wohnberechtigungsschein (certificate of eligibility).
Social apartments and those subject to occupancy commitments are mostly owned by the
municipal companies and associations. Nevertheless, in 2012 around 132,000 rental apartments owned by e.g. private or stock-market
quoted providers were subject to one or more
ties. Adding these apartments to those owned by
the non-profit-oriented landlords, there is a total
of around 600,000 rental apartments subject to
special conditions of rent control and occupation.
More than 38 per cent of all rental apartments
in Berlin are therefore affected by these specific
regulations.
Heterogeneous group of private providers
The private housing providers are a large and
heterogeneous group. The data gathered for the
2011 census provided the most recent detailed
breakdown of apartments let for residential occupation in Berlin, by ownership groups. According to the census, the largest subgroup is private
individuals, between them owning almost a quarter of all rental apartments in Berlin. Individual
buildings, constructed as traditional residential
investments in the 19th and early 20th centuries
and which are concentrated in the inner-city districts and suburban centres, form an important
part of these.
Older buildings in private ownership are often in
need of particularly extensive refurbishment and
Apartments in Berlin by ownhership structure
Proportion 2002 and 2012 in %
apartments used by the owner1)
12.5
Rental apartments
cooperatives
10.1
Rental apartments
municipal housing companies
Rental apartments
listed housing companies
10.1
2002
57.6
Rental apartments
private and other institutional owners
1) includes condominiums, single-family houses, townhouses, semi-detached houses, company apartments
Source: CBRE based on data from own research and Senate Administration for Urban Development and Environment
14.9
2012
19.9
14.4
52.8
7.8
modernisation work. However, in recent years,
many districts with concentrations of older buildings have registered the highest rental growth.
This group of owners is also important for the
development of districts, because, by their individual and varied dealings, its members conserve
the small-scale and varied structure that often
accounts for the quality of older districts.
The next-largest group of owners, with around
21 per cent of the units registered, are the private housing companies. They have particularly
expanded their influence in the past 15 years by
taking over former state-owned housing stock
and by further acquisitions. According to CBRE,
around 10 per cent of all rental apartments in
Berlin are currently owned by listed companies.
Deutsche Wohnen, with more than 100,000 units,
owns the largest proportion of these. The listed
companies Deutsche Annington, Akelius and
Gagfah also hold more than 10,000 apartments
in the city.
Proportion of owner-occupiers still small
Statistically, the group of private housing companies is followed by the condominium owners’
associations, i.e. the owners of individual apartments. According to the census, around 16 per
cent of the rental apartments in the city are condominiums that have been rented out. Overall,
more than two thirds of all the apartments owned
by condominium associations are not owneroccupied but are let out. This demonstrates the
major importance of individual housing ownership in Berlin, both for investment and providing pensions. The range of owners extends from
the landlord of a single studio apartment to the
largest property owner, holding a large number
of units.
The final subgroup of private landlords is “other
private companies,” which, when the census was
carried out, owned around 8 per cent of rental
apartments in Berlin. Some of these are groups
of private persons, while others are large companies with different main objectives, for example
current or former company housing.
Worthy of mention are also the unlet condominiums in Berlin. According to the census, in 2011
these accounted for nearly 15 per cent of all
apartments. The proportion is growing slowly but
steadily. Although the major hopes for privatisation by some owners, primarily in the last decade,
have not been fulfilled, there is a trend towards
owner-occupation that is being boosted by low
interest rates, shortages on the rental market,
and rising incomes. Nevertheless, the owner-occupation rate in Berlin is still considerably lower
than in all the other German federal states.
CAPPING OF RENTS ON RE-LETTING
Rents on new lettings of apartments in Berlin have increased significantly since
2009 in around 80 per cent of all residential areas. In Germany, only about a
third of the cities and regions are affected by strongly rising rents.
The bill to moderate the rise in rents was approved by the Federal Cabinet on
1 October 2014. The draft regulations plan to limit allowable rents on re-lettings, in areas with strained housing markets, to a maximum of 10 per cent
above the “ortsübliche Vergleichsmiete” (comparative rent for the area). Not affected by the controls are, however, newly-developed and furnished apartments,
rent increases on modernisation in accordance with § 559 Para. 1 to 3 BGB, and
stepped or indexed leases.
For Berlin, it can be assumed that, like the “Kappungsgrenzen-Verordnung”
(capping ordinance) that came into force in May 2013, reducing the maximum
increase in existing rents under § 558 Para. 3 BGB from 20 to 15 per cent within
a three-year period, control of rents on re-letting will also be applied to the
whole city. A prerequisite for issuing such a decree is for the facts on which the
supposed existence of a strained housing market is based to be presented. The
measures that will be taken to relieve the pressure on the housing market during the five-year period when the capping will apply must also be stated.
In this connection there are major legal uncertainties concerning the definition of
“extensive modernisation.” In its latest policy paper, the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection states that this applies if “the investment reaches
about a third of the expenditure required to build a comparable new apartment.”
Finally, it must be taken into account that the average rent in the Berlin “Mietspiegel” (official rent table), so far used as a basis for determining the normal
rent for the locality in accordance with § 558 Para. 3 BGB and to be the new
guideline for capping rents on re-letting, has risen by an average of 3.1 per cent
per annum since 2011.
In its first statement since the cabinet resolution on 7 November 2014, the
Bundesrat called for further improvements. The federal states regret that the
bill does not include new provisions on rent increases following modernisation
works. They also criticise the planned provisions for refunding overpaid rent
on apartments subject to rent control. The Bundesrat considers the criteria for
areas with strained housing markets in the bill to be dispensable. The law will
merely determine that such areas exist if the adequate provision of rental apartments for the population, on appropriate conditions, is particularly endangered.
Consideration in property valuation
Based on simulations of CBRE, it can be concluded that the market values of
residential properties in modest to mid-range locations will not or only very
slightly be affected by the planned legislation. In good residential areas and/or
gentrified areas where rents are well above the Mietspiegel figures, there will
also probably be no effects when extensive refurbishments are carried out. For
property valuation this means that, as before, there will be a tendency to incur
high refurbishment costs on apartments where rents are high, but no or only
low refurbishment costs where rents are low. For valuers, the legal uncertainties
surrounding the implementation of the capping of rents on re-letting mean that
there is no need for changes in the approach to valuation at the end of 2014.
In transactions recorded so far, no effects on prices of the planned capping of
rents on re-letting have been ascertained.
(As per 19 November 2014)
Rents, condominiums, investments in apartment
buildings: Continuing very high demand
Rents: Growth only slightly lower than in the previous year and still substantial
Asking rents in Berlin are still rising. However,
the rate of growth fell slightly in 2014 from 6.9
to 6.6 per cent year-on-year. The average size of
the apartments advertised has also fallen from
72.4 to 70.6 square metres. In 2014, the average
net rent per apartment therefore only rose from
€581 to €603, i.e. by 3.8 per cent. At the same
time, the healthy economic situation meant that
the average purchasing power of households in
Berlin rose almost as fast: it was up by 3.5 per
cent. Housing costs therefore take up the same
proportion of purchasing power (20.4 per cent) as
in 2013. Income growth in Berlin is almost in line
with the trend of average asking rents.
Rental growth extending spatially
Geographically, rental growth is shifting from the
core outward. In previous years it was primarily
concentrated in particularly sought-after city-centre districts. However, in numerous central areas,
it has almost come to a halt. Average asking rents
have actually fallen in a few districts, primarily
in particularly attractive locations in Mitte, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Schöneberg, Kreuzberg,
and Prenzlauer Berg, where rents are already very
high and/or there has been very strong growth
in recent years. The peak seems to have been
reached there: prospective tenants’ willingness
to pay has apparently reached its limit, so that
they are shifting their attention to less expensive
neighbouring districts.
The situation in many locations on the edge of
the city centre, in the wider inner city and those
with good transport connections confirms this
presumption. Districts experiencing aboveaverage rental growth include those in northern
Moabit and in Wedding, as well as peripheral districts such as Tempelhof, Spandau, and MarzahnHellersdorf. In particular, districts where rental
values were previously very low and vacancy was
a problem are now catching up. These factors are
apparently no longer a restraint on rental growth.
Lower growth in upper market segment
The spatial trend is also apparent when looking at segments of the market. The average rent
per square metre of the most expensive decile
of apartments offered rose by only 2.6 per cent
in 2014. The growth potential of highest-quality
apartments has been widely exhausted. In the
lower segment of the market, however, average rental growth in the cheapest 10 per cent
of apartments is around 8.5 per cent. This also
shows that the rental growth is increasingly
changing from a peak occurrence to a widespread
phenomenon that is penetrating to the bottom
end of the market.
The construction of new apartments plays a paradoxically dual role in the rental statistics. Overall, it somewhat relaxes the market, reducing
demand for existing apartments and so curbing
rental growth. As new apartments are usually
Current rental development
Rental price range for new lettings, 2014
District
Number Middle market segment 1)
of rental price range in €/m 2/month
offers
4 6 8 10 12 14 16
All market segments
Bottom market segment Top market segment
Median in
Change
Median in
Change
Median in
Change
€/m 2/month from 2013 €/m 2/month
from 2013 €/m 2/month from 2013
in %
in %
in %
Charlottenb.-Wilm.
7,479
7.26 – 14.00
6.63
5.1
15.36
2.4
9.82
Friedrichsh.-Kreuzb.
6,884
7.44 – 15.60
6.48
3.7
17.39
4.3
10.39
3.9
Lichtenberg
2,756
5.99 – 10.32
5.50
8.7
11.56
–0.3
7.98
12.2
Marzahn-Hellersd.
3,144
4.99 – 8.20
4.75
8.9
8.80
7.0
5.96
9.1
Mitte
9,446
6.48 – 15.00
5.86
6.4
16.52
1.0
10.00
10.0
Neukölln
4,644
6.03 – 13.73
5.53
4.7
15.91
6.1
8.50
9.7
Pankow
8,483
6.51 – 13.48
5.90
0
15.16
1.1
9.03
3.2
Reinickendorf
3,485
5.75 – 9.47
5.31
6.2
10.50
6.0
7.08
7.2
Spandau
3,472
5.28 – 8.78
4.87
6.6
9.76
9.8
6.75
7.3
Steglitz-Zehlendorf
4,900
6.69 – 11.91
6.11
2.7
13.00
4.0
8.58
2.0
Tempelh.-Schöneb.
5,064
6.43 – 12.78
5.87
5.6
14.49
3.5
8.47
5.9
Treptow-Köpenick
4,413
6.00 – 10.00
5.50
3.8
11.11
0.4
7.40
5.7
64,170
6.00 – 13.48
5.50
8.5
15.05
2.6
8.55
6.6
Berlin average
1) excl. bottom and top tenth percentile of quotes
3.9
Source: CBRE, based on data from empirica-systeme
more expensive than existing ones, they primarily draw well-off potential tenants from the existing market. This mechanism applies to new condominiums as well as new rental apartments.
However, this effect can have a quite different
impact at local level. When numerous new build
apartments are marketed in areas not having an
excessive supply of apartments, the average asking rent rises, because the new supply is generally dearer than the existing stock. Such an effect
can often occur even if the competition from new
developments reduces demand, and asking rents
for the remaining supply in the neighbourhood
fall. The statistically drastic increase is usually
only temporary. As soon as the new building has
been marketed, average asking rents in the area
decline again.
Strong rental growth in peripheral districts
The 12 districts of Berlin have populations between around 220,000 and 368,000 and are correspondingly heterogeneous, in terms of both locations and market trends. This applies above all to
the Mitte district, where, as before, growth in average asking rents per square metre is among the
highest in the city. The lower-priced peripheral
areas of the district were primarily responsible for
this. In contrast, asking rents in the most expensive areas and for upmarket apartments stagnated
and even fell in some cases.
The highest rental growth this year was in Lichtenberg, a district increasingly being discovered as
an alternative by apartment hunters for whom the
supply inside the S-Bahn ring is inadequate or too
expensive. In third place for rental growth, behind
Lichtenberg and Mitte, is Neukölln. Here it is concentrated primarily on the smaller apartments in
older buildings in the north, where demand shifting from the adjoining and more expensive Kreuzberg plays a part. Next in the rental growth league
table are three districts with peripheral locations
and large post-war high-rise estates, where rents
per square metre have so far been well behind and
even now are among the lowest: Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Spandau, and Reinickendorf.
Methodology of the Residential Market Report – asking rents
Net asking rents (excluding heating and ancillary costs) of apartments in Berlin are
included in the analysis. In the period from the first to third quarters of 2013 and
2014 a total of 113,486 rental offers were evaluated. From these the medians, i.e.
the rental values separating the upper half of the data from the lower half, for each
year were calculated. In order to represent extreme values, the lowest-priced and
dearest 10 per cent of the rental offers were analysed separately. These represent
the topmost and lowest market segments. The medians of each of these segments
are also stated.
Rental growth slowing in many locations
In all other districts, rental growth is below the
Berlin average. Tempelhof-Schöneberg and
Treptow-Köpenick are typical, with some strong
growth on the periphery, while rents in the locations closer to the city centre are stagnating. In
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, particularly in prime
locations around Kurfürstendamm, rents are at a
standstill. After its dynamic rental growth in previous years, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg is now third
from the bottom of the table, while in Pankow
the upward trend of prices has also considerably
slackened. The backmarker in rental growth is
Steglitz-Zehlendorf, where rental values were already extremely high for a peripheral location.
Continued strong growth in sale prices of apartments and houses
Prices in the Berlin condominium and apartment
building markets again increased strongly in
2014. The average asking price for apartments
rose by 10.1 per cent, with apartment buildings
up by as much as 11.7 per cent. Some of the reasons for the continuing growth in prices are specific to the city: the population and incomes are
rising; purchasing power is on a positive trend;
rental and condominium apartments are in increasingly short supply and more sought-after,
therefore more expensive. At the same time,
given the existing market supply and the continued growth in demand, the volume of new construction on residential properties has not yet
reached an extensive enough dimension.
Another major reason for the upswing in the
owner-occupier market is global: the continuing
low level of interest rates. Safe alternative investments produce lower returns, while the costs of
property finance have seldom been as low. As an
investment location, the city is therefore still attractive for buyers from the rest of Germany and
abroad. Comparing rents on new leases and the
asking prices for condominium apartments shows
that in some residential areas the growth is no
longer parallel and that sale prices have become
decoupled from rents. In view of the relatively high
entry prices, particularly for new developments,
investors should therefore take heed of the quality of the location and the rents achievable.
A further considerable rise in the sale prices of
apartment buildings and residential portfolios
has been perceived in the last 12 months. Provided that conversion from rental to condominium apartments in good residential locations continues, and while sale prices in the medium and
low-priced segments remain significantly below
construction costs, it can be assumed that there
will be further price increases.
Condominium apartments: Highest prices
in the central districts
The highest prices for condominium apartments
are still obtained in the three central districts:
Mitte, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg and Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. In 2014, a new record for the
city was set in Mitte: an average asking price of
€3,646 per square metre. New apartment construction in Mitte is more vibrant than in other
parts of Berlin and the range between the top and
bottom price segments is greater than anywhere
else. The most expensive 10 per cent of the apartments offered, which appear to be concentrated
Methodology of the Housing Market Report – condominium apartments
and investments
In the periods Q1 to Q3 of 2013 and 2014, a total of 67,237 offers of condominium
apartments and 3,243 of apartment buildings for sale were evaluated. As with the
properties on offer to let, the median values were calculated. The lowest-priced and
dearest offers for sale were again considered separately.
in the historic city centre, have an average asking
price of €6,184 per square metre. The 10 per cent
with the lowest asking prices are centred, to all
appearances, in Wedding and Moabit. In this segment an average of only €1,421 is being asked –
less than for apartments in the same segment of
the market in the inner-city districts of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, as well as in the Pankow district.
The second-highest asking prices, €377 per
square metre less than in Mitte, are in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. The uppermost segment
is around a fifth cheaper than Mitte, at €5,000
per square metre, while the lowest, at €1,776,
is about 25 per cent dearer. In 2014, the average asking price for condominium apartments in
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf is only slightly less
than in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg: €3,129 per
square metre. In the top segment of the market
average asking prices have already surpassed the
€5,500 per square metre mark.
Fourth in the price league table, as in the previous
year, comes Pankow. Prices at the lower end of the
market are also particularly high here. There is no
major supply in modest, inter- or post-war buildings: most of the older buildings have been refurbished and modernised since the 1990s. In the
top segment, the average price in Pankow is below that of the city as a whole, in which the highpriced markets in the historic centre and around
Kurfürstendamm play an important part.
In terms of average prices for condominium apartments, Steglitz-Zehlendorf is in fifth place. Al-
Current price development, condominiums
Purchase price range, 2014
District
sale
price range in €/m 2
offers
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Bottom market segment Top market segment
All market segments
Median in
Median in
Change
Median in
Change
Change
€/m 2
from 2013 €/m 2
from 2013 €/m 2
from 2013
in %
in %
in %
Charlottenb.-Wilm.
6,609
1,800 – 4,828
1,476
6.8
5,515
4.8
3,129
9.8
4,525
2,016 – 4,450
1,776
6.5
5,000
12.3
3,269
10.8
Lichtenberg
1,221
1,257 – 3,385
1,143
3.5
3,614
7.0
2,432
4.4
326
830 – 2,663
685
4.7
2,996
3.5
1,500
2.5
Mitte
4,829
1,693 – 5,510
1,421
8.7
6,184
3.8
3,646
5.3
Neukölln
1,547
1,236 – 3,100
1,120
10.0
3,350
8.1
2,083
17.4
Pankow
4,957
1,700 – 4,200
1,500
4.0
4,600
7.7
2,879
6.6
Reinickendorf
1,646
1,158 – 3,078
1,043
5.9
3,533
3.2
1,848
11.4
Spandau
1,383
1,029 – 2,530
954
10.1
3,176
–11.5
1,389
2.9
Steglitz-Zehlendorf
3,240
1,417 – 4,218
1,261
5.1
4,708
4.6
2,443
5.0
Tempelh.-Schöneb.
3,489
1,350 – 3,618
1,225
8.0
4,007
1.6
2,243
10.2
2,660
1,358 – 3,386
1,172
8.9
3,650
4.6
2,369
13.7
36,432
1,416 – 4,399
1,240
9.5
5,000
7.2
2,725
10.1
Marzahn-Hellersd.
Treptow-Köpenick
Berlin average
Current price development, apartment buildings
Purchase price range, 2014
District
sale
price range in €/m 2
offers
0
1
2
3
4
5
All market segments
Median in
Change
€/m 2
from 2013
in %
Charlottenb.-Wilm.
135
1,412 – 4,100
2,219
20.5
115
1,387 – 2,584
1,919
17.8
69
825 – 2,193
1,330
7.0
Lichtenberg
Marzahn-Hellersd.
40
713 – 2,118
1,660
18.0
Mitte
152
718 – 2,826
1,537
24.2
Neukölln
108
707 – 1,983
1,380
13.5
Pankow
195
1,109 – 2,917
1,746
9.9
Reinickendorf
125
1,076 – 2,385
1,505
3.8
Spandau
105
843 – 2,308
1,301
11.8
Steglitz-Zehlendorf
176
1,325 – 3,667
2,086
15.9
Tempelh.-Schöneb.
120
1,043 – 2,212
1,660
10.7
Treptow-Köpenick
171
874 – 2,344
1,352
2.5
1,511
978 – 2,859
1,644
11.7
Berlin average
though there is interest in property ownership
and the financial strength is particularly great,
both are heavily oriented to individual houses and
villas, somewhat weakening the market for apartment ownership. The district of Lichtenberg ranks
in sixth position. The market there is dominated
by a wide midfield, including numerous buildings constructed since 1990. There is currently renewed development activity in the district, which
also tends to increase the average asking price. In
contrast, prices in neither the top nor the bottom
segments stand out considerably. The amazing
thing is that apartments are on offer here at average prices per square metre that are only minimally less than in Steglitz-Zehlendorf, the district
with the highest purchasing power in Berlin.
Among the remaining districts, Neukölln and
Treptow-Köpenick stand out because of their very
strong price trends: Neukölln registered the highest proportional – and the second-highest absolute – growth in average prices in the city. The
northern part of the district, formerly regarded as
impoverished, is gradually becoming acceptable
for middle-class purchasers. Some regard Neukölln as an alternative market to nearby, but much
more expensive, Kreuzberg. In Treptow-Köpenick
there are residential areas in both the more urbane northwestern and central parts of the district as well as in the extensive green suburbs.
In Reinickendorf, Marzahn-Hellersdorf and Spandau, apartments are on offer for an average of
well under €2,000 per square metre, while price
rises in the latter two districts have also been
Top and bottom segment:
In the apartment building segment,
different quality levels and locations
have a substantial impact on price
development. There were relatively
few purchase offers at the district
level during the observation period,
meaning that in the top and bottom
segments, prices and price comparisons with the previous year are not
significant. For this reason, they are
not represented in this report.
very low. As in previous years, there are very few
condominium apartments for sale in MarzahnHellersdorf.
Apartment buildings: Highest prices in
the west and southwest
For the first time, the average asking prices for
apartment buildings exceeded the €2,000 per
square metre mark in two Berlin districts in 2014 –
both having the highest purchasing power in the
city. In Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf vendors were
asking an average of €2,219, in Steglitz-Zehlendorf €2,086. The year-on-year increase in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, 20.5 per cent, was particularly sharp. Steglitz-Zehlendorf was slightly
behind, at 15.9 per cent.
In third place for average asking prices in 2014
was Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. Despite 17.8 per
cent growth, the €2,000 threshold was missed, albeit by only €81. Pankow was next, after a wide
margin. The average price there was €1,746,
while the increase was less than in the previous
year. This district has the most properties on offer in Berlin. In terms of prices, this large market
is directly followed by the smallest: less than 50
buildings were on offer in Marzahn-Hellersdorf.
However, because of this small number the peculiarly high average asking price in this district has
only limited significance.
All five districts so far mentioned, together with
Tempelhof-Schöneberg, are above the average
price per square metre in Berlin, while the other
six districts are below it. Mitte and ReinickenHousing Market Report | 2015 | Berlin 11
dorf are slightly below the city average. In terms
of asking prices, the Mitte district is in only seventh place of the 12 districts, surprising in view of
its location and prominence. Evidently, the properties on offer in Mitte were not concentrated in
the historic city centre, but in the subdistricts of
Wedding and Moabit. Nevertheless, Mitte registered the sharpest growth in asking prices in the
city: 24.2 per cent.
The four lowest-priced submarkets for apartment buildings are in Neukölln, Treptow-Köpenick, Lichtenberg, and Spandau, where asking
prices range between €1,300 and €1,400 per
square metre. Prices rose year-on-year by more
than the city average in Spandau and Neukölln,
slightly less in Lichtenberg and by the smallest
amount in Berlin – only 2.5 per cent – in TreptowKöpenick.
Berlin remains an attractive international investment location
The attractiveness of Berlin as a location for investment is based on the positive trend of its
socio-demographic and economic conditions; the
potential for rental growth; the volume of transactions; and the fungibility of the investment market.
By national comparison, the prices of condominium apartments, residential investments and portfolios have moved considerably further upward in
the last 12 months. In its latest property market
report, the Berlin Gutachterausschuss (land valuation board) reported a 5 per cent increase in the
number of sales transactions in condominium
apartments from 2012 to 2013, while the transaction volume rose by 14 per cent. The number
of sales of pure rental apartment building rose by
15 per cent, the transaction volume by 41 per cent.
Unlike cities such as Munich or Hamburg, however,
there is still an adequate supply in Berlin.
Compared with other European capitals, there
are considerable structural differences. Whereas
there is a concentration on investment in existing property in Berlin due to its comparatively
Selected residential property portfolio transactions in Berlin in 2013 and 2014
Buyer
Seller
Number of
apartments
60,500
Price in
€ million
Deutsche Wohnen AG
GSW Immobilien AG
Deutsche Wohnen AG
Blackstone
6,900
3,500
315
Deutsche Wohnen AG
WVB Centuria i. A. Petrus-Fonds
5,300
250
345
GSW / Immeo
Lincoln Equities Group
4,400
degewo
Institutional investor
2,259
185
PEARS Global
MCT Berlin Residential SCA
2,000
160
BUWOG AG
Capricornus Capital Manag. GmbH
1,916
103
German institutional investor
U. S. joint venture
1,900
148
Gesobau / WBM / Stadt und Land
Caleus / Tristan Capital Partners
1,800
160
Deutsche Investment
Kapitalanlagegesellschaft
Zentral Boden Immobilien AG
1,800
140
LuxemburgerFondsgesellschaft
1,400
120
Union Investment Institutional
Property GmbH
TAG Tegernsee Immobilienund Beteiligungs-AG
1,384
87
Akelius Fastigheter AB
Round Hill Capital
798
86
Akelius Fastigheter AB
Pramerica Real Estate Investors
741
78
InternationalesFamilyOffice
moderate prices, London, for example, is experiencing a real boom in the development of condominiums and, increasingly, rental apartments in
the upmarket segment.
€7.5 billion investment volume
A distinctive feature of Berlin is the availability
and investment volume of residential property
portfolios. According to CBRE, between 2013 and
the third quarter of 2014, 37 residential property
portfolios with volumes exceeding €50 million
changed hands. Some or all of the properties concerned were in Berlin. The investment volume in
Berlin amounted to around €7.5 billion, 31.5 per
cent – i.e. almost a third – of the €23.8 billion total
investment volume in Germany.
The most important group of purchasers, by a
wide margin, are the listed residential property companies, which accounted for €5.3 billion,
around 70 per cent of the total investment volume.
The largest deal was the takeover of GSW AG, with
its around 60,500 residential units, by Deutsche
Wohnen AG. A total of around 120,000 residential units changed hands. As well as Deutsche
Wohnen AG, the active companies were primarily
BUWOG AG, Akelius, and Grand City. Against the
background of the decreasing supply of housing
and with the political mandate to further increase
the public housing stock, the State of Berlin’s
own housing associations are the second-largest
group of investors. They accounted for an investment volume of around €625 million, 8 per cent of
the total. Overall, around 7,500 residential units
have been acquired in the last two years.
A significant trend in the investment market for
portfolio transactions in 2014 is the withdrawal
of the somewhat opportunistic investors and, in
some cases, the listed housing companies, because of the downward pressure on initial yields.
On the other hand, we note that the capping of
rents on re-letting, which is expected to come
into force in mid-2015, so far has had no effect on
the continuing heavy demand from investors.
Financing: Lively market – vigilance required
In the recent past, sale prices in some of the
housing markets in Berlin and other thriving major and university cities have increased considerably. Prices of condominium apartments and
apartment buildings are still rising and no change
in the trend is anticipated in the near future. The
population and the number of households are
continuing to increase, while the volume of new
construction is still too low compared with the
growth. This has led to a lively financing market.
The situation for commercial property finance in
Germany is currently very good – from the client’s
point of view because of the historically low interest rates, and from the provider’s point of view because of the major potential for new business.
Because of the extremely low interest rates and
the vastly extended money supply, inter alia in
the US and the Eurozone, globally there is a great
deal of available liquidity that is in search of investment opportunities. The real estate market
is therefore characterised by very high liquidity. However, the so-called core segment of premium properties let on long-term leases to good
covenants is virtually sold out, so that investors
are now also switching to secondary locations or
second-order cities. This is also the reason why a
trend to investments in alternative asset classes
can be observed, for example in the properties of
companies that no longer wish to own them but
often want to continue to use them.
Finance providers and new forms of
cooperation
The traditional real estate financiers, such as
mortgage banks, are currently open to new business and are making extensive finance available.
The main reasons for this are the extremely low
interest rates and the robust economic situation.
In addition to the German real estate banks, new
financial providers are coming into the market.
These include insurance companies, loan funds
and equity investors. Regulatory developments
are also affecting the market. The increasing activities of the loan funds, insurance companies
and financial intermediaries are enabling novel,
interesting forms of cooperation with the banks,
which could further expand their function as financial arrangers and enrich the market with new,
practical types of products. On the other hand,
another important factor is limiting the demand:
the high liquidity and investment pressure in
the market are leading to lower demand for borrowed capital. Investors are effecting their property purchases with ever-increasing proportions
of equity capital.
German real estate market stable
These trends are leading to intensive competition
between real estate banks. The pressure on margins can already be clearly felt. Fortunately, however, no increased willingness to take risks among
the financiers can be observed. They have learned
their lessons from the financial crisis, which had
its origin in the US real estate market and its often questionable financial conduct. The crisis and
its consequences have considerably sharpened
the real estate financiers’ awareness of security.
In the case of mortgage bonds, the spreads between capital being received and loaned out are
now back at their pre-crisis level – providing a
significant sign of solidity from the market. According to an analysis by IREBS, the growth rates
in new commercial property finance business are
moving in a similar direction. In 2013, although
the volume of finance our new business increased
by 11.3 per cent year-on-year, this was less than
in the previous years. In 2012 new business grew
by 15.6 per cent, in 2011 by 16.2 per cent.
“The stiff price competition and the continuing pressure on margins are leading to
growing misgivings that real estate market players might reduce their standards for
the quality of property or financing. One result of the recent financial crisis is the
risk-averse market behaviour by the banks. We should maintain this!”
Gero Bergmann, Director of Berlin Hyp AG
Controllable risk for the banks
Nevertheless, there are animated discussions
about a price bubble in Germany. After many
years with only small changes in price, the current
significant growth gives the impression of a risky
trend. However, consideration of the past can
initially assuage these doubts: long-term fixedinterest loans and refinancing through mortgage
bonds are typical in Germany. It was not least for
these reasons that the German real estate market has come through the financial and economic
crisis since 2008 with more stability than many
other European countries. In addition, the structure of financing is considerably more conservative than before the crisis. However, continuing
disciplined risk management is also important.
This applies in particular to the current market
situation, in which some prices are rising faster
than rents. From the banks’ point of view, however, the high proportion of equity means that the
risk is manageable. At the moment, there is no
discernible risk for the banking system and therefore for the whole economy.
New buildings: 226 projects offer more than
17,600 apartments
Apartment construction in Berlin has gained considerable momentum since 2012. Currently, 226
projects either under construction or definitely
planned, totalling more than 17,600 apartments,
can be identified. However, if the growth in population, numbers of households and incomes continues, current construction will be nowhere near
adequate. The number of households has been
rising by well over 20,000 per annum recently.
Around 70 per cent of the apartments registered
are planned as condominiums. However, some
of the condominiums will later become available
on the rental market after they are acquired by
investors and re-let. A hardly surprising rule of
thumb applies: the nearer to the centre a district
is situated, the higher the proportion of rental
apartments. In Mitte they account for around 40
per cent of all planned apartments. In contrast,
projects in the five districts with large peripheral areas are planned to have almost exclusively
condominiums. The two largest individual developments, each with more than 800 units, mainly
include detached, semi-detached and terraced
houses. They have long-term development prospects until 2019 or 2030.
The anticipated sale prices start at €1,490 per
square metre in the “Wohnpark Gartenstadt” project in Alt-Hohenschönhausen and rise to just
under €20,000 in the “Living Levels” project at
the East Side Gallery. Rents range from €6.50 per
square metre per month in a project by a municipal company in Alt-Treptow to more than €30 in
the Leipziger Platz Quartier.
Mitte is the focus of new construction
In every district apart from Marzahn-Hellersdorf,
at least 100 apartments are currently planned or
under construction. The number in Neukölln has
considerably increased, albeit from a low level.
Five developments are currently under construction there.
More than a quarter of all new apartments
planned for Berlin are in the Mitte district.
The focus is in and around the historic centre, which was enclosed on three sides by
the Berlin Wall. Twenty-five years after it fell,
the last major gaps in the former border strip
are being developed, as are nearby sites undergoing change of use, and numerous small derelict and undeveloped sites. Fourteen major projects with 100 or more apartments are planned
or under construction in the district. Two of them
include more than 400 apartments: a site in Europacity to the north of the central train station
and, slightly further to the east, the “Feuerlandhöfe” on Chausseestrasse. Slightly further afield,
12 projects with more than 1,100 apartments,
Spandau
CharlottenburgWilmersdorf
Steglitz-Zehlendorf
Locations of selected
new construction projects
Condominiums
Rental apartments
Mixed use
Exact use unknown
Reinickendorf
Pankow
Lichtenberg
Marzahn-Hellersdorf
Mitte
FriedrichshainKreuzberg
TempelhofSchöneberg
Neukölln
Treptow-Köpenick
Source: CBRE, as per November 2014
are planned. Another focus of construction activity in the district is in and around the former
border area between Mitte and Kreuzberg, where
more than 670 apartments are planned. As well
as new development projects, many apartments
are to be constructed in conversion projects in
Mitte, for example in former office, retail or industrial buildings. By a wide margin, the largest
project of this type is the conversion of a former
department store site on Brunnenstrasse to 265
rental apartments.
Sale prices still high
Mitte is also the central focus of rental apartment
construction, where more than a third of those
planned in the whole of Berlin are to be built. A
wide range is on offer. Projected rents range from
€9 per square metre per month in “Markgrafenkarree” to over €30 on the Leipziger Platz Quartier,
where apartments of up to 362 square metres will
be on offer. At the other end of the spectrum are
390 student apartments, with floor areas starting
at 23 square metres, to be marketed as condominiums in a project close to Alexanderplatz.
In the owner-occupier segment, most properties
on offer are in the €3,000 to €5,000 per square
metre price bracket. However, substantially
higher asking prices are not uncommon in Mitte.
In many projects the promoters are asking more
than €6,000 per square metre, while in four developments, apartments are priced at over €10,000.
High volume of construction in Lichtenberg
In second place for numbers of apartments under
construction is the district of Lichtenberg. Around
half the new developments planned, on two large
sites in Falkenberg and Karlshorst, will be detached, semi-detached, or terraced houses. Devel-
opment periods of up to 16 years are quoted. A further approximately quarter of new developments
in Lichtenberg are two projects by the municipal
company HOWOGE, to be let at rents from around
€7 per square metre. The remainder of the planned
apartments are spread over 16 projects, most of
which are in Alt-Hohenschönhausen and the subdistricts of Lichtenberg and Rummelsburg, close to
the city centre.
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg is in third place in the
league table of new developments. Around 80
per cent of all projects are in the subdistrict of
Friedrichshain. The literally outstanding single
project is for the two high-rise buildings “Max
und Moritz.” One of the two towers is the largest
rental property in the district, housing 210 units.
The most-discussed project is “Living Levels,” in
the former border zone near the East Side Gallery,
where prices of up to €20,000 per square metre
will be asked. There are other concentrations in
redevelopment sites and derelict areas of eastern Friedrichshain, between Warschauer Strasse
and the S-Bahn ring. Quite a few of these are traditional Berlin single-property sites, for 10 to 30
apartments each. The asking prices for most of
the projects in Friedrichshain range from €3,000
to €4,000 per square metre. In the Kreuzberg
area, more than 80 per cent of residential development is concentrated on the western edge
of the new Gleisdreieckpark on Flottwellstrasse,
within walking distance of Potsdamer Platz.
In fourth place for developments is TreptowKöpenick, with around 2,000 apartments planned.
The expected sale prices and rents are among the
lowest in the city, primarily due to the relatively
low land prices in the extensive, often uncongested district, with many peripheral areas. The
most prominent concentration of development
New apartment construction: 226 projects in development
District
Projects
Projects with
Total number of
rental apartments apartments
Quoted rent price
in €/m2/month
Quoted purchase
price in €/m2
Apartment size
in m2
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf
31
3
1,660
12.00 – 15.50
2,490 – 11,170
37 – 350
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
31
5
2,240
7.50 – 16.00
2,450 – 19,940
30 – 450
Lichtenberg
20
3
3,300
7.00 – 10.50
1,490 – 4,730
30 – 280
1
—
8
—
2,300 – 2,900
84 – 115
42
10
4,730
9.50 – 31.20
2,190 – 15,000
23 – 570
5
1
300
avg. 8.80
2,160 – 4,000
38 – 220
33
7
1,880
6.90 – 12.50
2,290 – 7,010
40 – 227
5
—
220
—
2,430 – 4,900
40 – 250
Marzahn-Hellersdorf
Mitte
Neukölln
Pankow
Reinickendorf
Spandau
Steglitz-Zehlendorf
Tempelhof-Schöneberg
Treptow-Köpenick
Berlin total
Source: CBRE, own research
3
—
120
—
2,670 – 4,500
35 – 114
14
2
860
11.00 – 15.00
2,980 – 6,280
50 – 317
7
—
200
—
1,860 – 4,540
40 – 195
34
8
2,040
6.50 – 12.00
1,900 – 5,040
25 – 234
226
39
17,558
6.50 – 31.20
1,490 – 19,940
25 – 570
is Adlershof, where around 600 apartments in 11
projects are planned. Investors are showing interest in the science park as well as the proximity of, and good links to, the future major airport.
The target groups are up-and-coming scientists,
students, and workers with heavy travel commitments. Around 40 per cent of the apartments in
Adlershof are planned for letting. The secondlargest amount of development, in the subdistrict
of Köpenick, is quite different. In the often idyllic
locations close to lakes and forests, over 90 per
cent of the more than 500 apartments planned
are to be sold as condominiums. The two developments in Alt-Treptow are relatively large, with
98 and 200 apartments. Four of the five projects
in Friedrichshagen and Grünau are in attractive
waterside locations.
Expansion of new development in Pankow
By number of apartments, two major projects in
the Prenzlauer Berg area in Pankow are well ahead
of all others. They are the site on the northern
Mauerpark, on which 450 condominium and rental
apartments are planned, and the “La Vie” project,
near Senefelderplatz, which includes more than
350 rental apartments. Apart from these, only
one of the eight projects on Prenzlauer Berg has
more than 50 apartments. Three of the projects
are small, with less than 25 apartments. Although
there is still good demand, there is a shortage of
sites in the densely-developed subdistrict. Investors are shifting northwards. In the often idyllic
Weissensee alone, around 330 apartments in 10
projects are planned, and circa 170 apartments in
five developments in Niederschönhausen. Almost
220 additional units are planned in the Pankow
subdistrict. There and in Niederschönhausen, the
municipal GESOBAU AG is about to take over two
projects with around 100 apartments each, which
it intends to let at rents from €6.90 per square metre per month. In “Pankower Gärten” they include a
privately-financed section, where apartment rents
will be up to €11.65 per square metre. Apart from
these, the owner-occupier market is largely dominant, particularly in the numerous smaller projects.
In the northern subdistricts such as Weissensee,
Französisch Buchholz and Wilhelmsruh, only condominium apartments are being constructed.
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, sixth in terms of
numbers of new apartments, is mainly a denselydeveloped inner-city district. Almost the only
large undeveloped sites are in peripheral locations, for instance on Seesener Strasse near the
motorway and S-Bahn, and on a former hospital
site on Mollwitzstrasse and Pulsstrasse. Infill sites
dominate by number of projects. The smallest are
the very upmarket developments in the western
The biggest projects in the city
Project
AuenFlügelBerlin
Gartenstadt Karlshorst I and II
Location
Falkenberg
Number of apartments
(rounded)
850 –1,000
Karlshorst
820
Europacity, 1st sect., CA Immo & Hamburg Team Moabit
520
Northern section of Mauerpark, Groth Gruppe
Prenzlauer Berg
450
Friedrichshain
420
Treskow-Höfe 1)
Karlshorst
410
Lindenhof 2)
Lichtenberg
410
Feuerlandhöfe 3)
Mitte
400
Studio:B (student residence)
Mitte
390
Markgrafenkarree
Mitte
370
MaxundMoritz
1) former site of HTW technical college 2) former site of children’s hospital 3) former silver bromide factory
“villa” area of Grunewald. There are four projects in
inner-city Wilmersdorf and three in Westend.
Condominium developments dominate, with up
to 80 per cent of activity. The sometimes generous sizes of the planned apartments is striking. In
nine projects, apartments larger than 200 square
metres are on offer, while three will even include
units of more than 300 square metres. These
carry prices that, in a number of instances, exceed
the €6,000 per square metre mark. Rents of up to
€15 per square metre are being quoted for rental
apartments in the district.
Smaller projects on the edge of Steglitz
Steglitz-Zehlendorf is one of the six Berlin districts in which fewer than 1,000 new apartments
are planned. More than 70 per cent of activities
are concentrated in the green and affluent subdistricts of Zehlendorf and Dahlem. These are also the
location of the only three projects in the district
to include more than 100 apartments, led by the
Cedelia development of 274 units on the site of a
former barracks. Two of these three projects will
have more rental apartments than condominiums.
In the eastern areas of Steglitz, Lichterfelde and
Lankwitz there are only smaller projects, with six
to 67 apartments. Overall, anticipated minimum
initial rents and lowest sale prices in the district
are higher than the city average, while the highest
rents and prices are well below those in the most
highly sought-after city centre locations.
The remaining districts each have between only
one and seven development projects, including
two larger developments in Neukölln, each of more
than 100 apartments. Without exception these are
condominium apartments in the €2,300 to €4,900
price bracket, the latter an exceptional case on the
Humboldtinsel in Tegel. There is only minor development activity in Tempelhof-Schöneberg, Spandau and Marzahn-Hellersdorf, with just 275 apartments planned.
Housing Cost Atlas: Detailed analysis of
190 postcodes in the city of Berlin
Berlin postcode areas are broadly homogeneous in terms of structure of population and development, qualities of location, amenities and
transport connections, rental value, housing market and purchasing power of households. Their
average population is around 18,000. Data at
postcode level therefore gives an insight into
particular situations and differences in local development and allows detailed analysis of smallscale local trends in the city.
Methodology of the Housing Cost Atlas
The 64,170 apartments on offer where floor area and rent were
stated in the first three quarters of 2014 were allocated to the 190
Berlin postcodes. This provided a statistically adequate number of
offers for all areas apart from 13059 (Wartenberg), 13129 (Blankenburg), 13159 (Blankenfelde) and 14053 (Olympiastadion). The
tables give the median rent per square metre (excluding heating
and services) of all the properties on offer, as well as the medians
of the upper and lower deciles of the offers. This therefore enables
average asking rent + ancillary costs
x
perception of the local high-and low-price segments. In order to
determine the so-called “warm” rents (i.e. including heating and
services), flat-rate ancillary costs of €2.83 per square metre for the
western districts of Berlin and €2.19 for the eastern districts were
added. This is based on the current data provided by the BBU.
The average purchasing power per capita and per household is
calculated annually at postcode level by Michael Bauer Research
GmbH. The average housing cost ratio was calculated using the
following formula:
average apartment floor area
average purchasing power
Relationship between rent, floor area, and
purchasing power
Even deeper insights come to light when such
data is correlated. A high rent per square metre
in a locality is put into perspective if, as in parts
of Kreuzberg and Neukölln, the apartments on offer are frequently small and their total costs are
therefore limited. Data on rental values gain particular significance when they are viewed in relation to the purchasing power of households in the
=
average housing cost ratio
locality. Arithmetical division of average local asking rents (inclusive of heating) by average household purchasing power gives the housing cost ratio. Where this is high, the local population often
finds it difficult to afford the apartments on offer:
the providers are apparently aiming at higherearning potential tenants. If the housing cost
ratio is low, the location has comparatively low
financial priority: other needs are more important. For this reason, even when local purchasing
power is high, the potential for rent increase is
often limited. The significance of the housing cost
ratio is reduced, however, if an appreciable number of new developments come on to the market
at higher than the usual rental values and make
up a significant proportion of the total supply in
an area. The average rental value in such areas is
then heavily influenced by the new development.
The district texts on the following pages refer to
such phenomena in individual cases.
Major variations, even within areas
It is useful to examine the extremes at the upper
and lower ends of the market in the accompanying tables. The average asking rents per square
metre for the lowest- and highest-priced deciles
of apartments are provided for all postcodes. This
reveals the strengths or weaknesses of the highpriced segment concerned as well as the existence – or absence – of market niches for less-welloff tenants. In a few areas there is a wide range
across the segments. This indicates particularly
high social variety. Put positively, this means
that there are apartments for all income groups,
the structure of the population and buildings is
mixed, and therefore urban life is particularly varied. In other areas there are only narrow ranges
between the figures for the overall market and its
cheapest and most expensive segments. In these,
the housing market and population structure may
be rather homogeneous.
High supply figures in the centre and periphery
If a large number of apartments are on offer in
an area, this can be interpreted in several ways.
It might simply mean that there are many apartments there. However, it could mean that there
is high tenant fluctuation and a particular dynamism in the market. This requires closer analysis at the local level. In Berlin, the areas with
large numbers of apartments on offer are widely
spread. They are found both in the central locations of the city, such as Unter den Linden and
Chausseestrasse, and in trendy locations in Friedrichshain and Prenzlauer Berg. However, large
numbers of offers can also be registered in peripheral areas such as Hellersdorf North.
Area type 1: Stagnating expensive locations
Postcode
Area
District
10623
Savignyplatz
Charl.-Wilmersdorf
11.01
31.5
– 4.3
10178
Hackescher Markt
Mitte
12.50
44.1
– 3.8
10435
Kollwitzplatz
Pankow
11.66
34.3
– 2.2
10117
Unter den Linden
Mitte
12.90
39.3
– 1.6
10785
Potsdamer Platz
Mitte
11.25
29.3
+0.2
Asking rent 1)
in €/m2
Housing cost
ratio in %
Change
in asking
rent 2) in %
1) median per month net rent excl. utilities 2) average asking rent year on year
Stagnating expensive locations
In many areas of Berlin where there are high average asking rents, rental growth has
reached its limits. If moving within the area, households often need to commit more
than 40 per cent of their purchasing power in rent (including heating). When asking
rents are very high, apartment hunters from outside the district broaden their search
to less expensive neighbouring areas. The housing providers have reacted and have
hardly increased their asking rents – in a few of these areas, they have actually fallen.
Area type 2: Up-and-coming city centre neighbourhoods
Postcode
Area
District
13357
Gesundbrunnen
Mitte
8.25
2,768
+21.3
10559
Stephanstrasse
Mitte
9.22
2,681
+18.8
12055
Richardplatz
Neukölln
9.00
2,560
+12.5
10999
Görlitzer Park
11.71
3,066
+11.5
10709
Hochmeisterplatz
Charl.-Wilmersdorf
9.50
3,246
+11.2
Asking rent 1)
in €/m2
Purchasing
power 2)
in €/month
Change
in asking
rent 3) in %
1) median per month net rent excl. utilities 2) average per household 3) average asking rent year on year
Up-and-coming city centre neighbourhoods
There is an unbroken trend of rental growth in many areas with older buildings in
the city centre. This primarily concerns locations that are alternatives to very highly
sought-after districts and, as a special phenomenon, the already very expensive east
of Kreuzberg. In these areas, household purchasing power is often low – and will remain so for the foreseeable future, as newcomers with moderate incomes, for whom
the location is very important or who are content with small apartments, move in.
Area type 3: Catching up on the periphery
Postcode
Area
12353
Buckow East
Neukölln
6.47
3,008
13435
Märk. Viertel West
Reinickendorf
6.06
3,024
22.5
13589
Falkenhagener Feld
Spandau
5.87
2,950
20.9
District
Asking rent 1)
in €/m2
Purchasing
power 2
in €/month
Housing
cost ratio
in %
22.2
12627
Hellersdorf North
Marzahn-Hellersd.
5.80
2,579
20.0
12687
Mehrower Allee
Marzahn-Hellersd.
5.50
2,667
19.0
1) median per month net rent excl. utilities 2) average per household
Catching up on the periphery
Areas of high-rise buildings on the edge of the city previously appeared to be decoupled from the rental growth in the city centre. Recently, demand has noticeably increased there as well: asking rents are rising significantly. However, they continue to
be among the lowest in the city and will probably retain this position. In these areas,
many apartments are still available for less than €6 per square metre and are therefore very important for low-income groups of the population.
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf:
Large apartments and restrained rental growth
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf is comprised of
the western, widespread middle-class areas, and
the adjoining green areas with villas, low-density
areas of apartment buildings and forest. For many
years, this district of Berlin featured the highest asking rents per square metre. It now ranks
third, after Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg and Mitte.
However, it would be wrong to conclude that the
attractiveness of the district is diminishing. Asking rents per square metre also rose in 2014, although at a slower rate. At the same time, this
district, together with Steglitz-Zehlendorf, boasts
on average the largest apartments in Berlin – 12
square metres larger than in Mitte and as much
as 23 square metres more than in FriedrichshainKreuzberg. This means that the total costs of the
rents being asked in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf
are still higher than in any other district.
Where development affects the statistics
Residential developments in this district are primarily small and medium-sized. Nevertheless, if
a large new building comes onto the market, this
has a noticeable effect on the average asking rent
in the area. In 2014, this was particularly evident
in the western Kantstrasse (10627) postcode.
The median rent of €11.79 per square metre and
growth of 24.4 per cent was the highest in the district by a wide margin, although, with its heavy
traffic, very dense development and lack of green
space, this is not one of the most attractive parts
of the district. In 2013, the median rent was only
€9.48. However, the “Carré Raimar” new development and modernisation project, with more than
200 rental apartments, has now come onto the
market, driving the median asking rent upwards.
Lacking such a localised effect, the Olivaer Platz
(10707) area ranks second in the district, with a
median rent of €11.14. It extends from central
Kurfürstendamm, with its upper-class buildings
dating from the imperial era, southwards towards
Hohenzollerndamm. Despite its city centre location, it includes quiet, well-maintained and “green”
roads. The average household purchasing power,
€3,639, is respectable but not exorbitant. At the
same time, the floor areas and therefore the total costs of the apartments on offer are high. The
housing cost ratio, the proportion of household
purchasing power spent on housing, is 37.8 per
cent – the third highest in Berlin.
At the limits of purchasing power
Similar circumstances apply in the neighbouring
areas on eastern and central Kurfürstendamm
around Savignyplatz (10623), Ludwigkirchplatz
(10719) and Sybelstrasse (10629): high rents
per square metre, large apartments on offer (the
second-largest in Berlin around Ludwigkirchplatz)
and good but not extremely high purchasing
power. The landlords are also aware of these limits, which is why they have recently become cautious with asking rents. Around Sybelstrasse they
have risen by 4.2 per cent year-on-year, while
around Savignyplatz they actually fell by 4.3 per
cent and by 3.2 per cent around Ludwigkirchplatz.
Ranking in sixth place of the rental values in the
district is not a city-centre area but rather the
upmarket residential area of Grunewald (14193),
From the half-city to the top location in western Berlin
The former heart of
West Berlin
When the city was divided,
was where West Berlin’s heart
beat. The Gedächtniskirche
was the geographic and symbolic centre of the “half-city.”
Around Kurfürstendamm and
Tauentzienstrasse were retailers and service providers of importance for the whole city and
much further afield. For Berliners, the boulevard was, by a
wide margin, the most important public space. Tourism, restaurants, and the hospitality industry were also concentrated
there, as were cultural facilities
of wider significance.
Not always a top residential
address
The uses mentioned dominated the ambience and the
economy. Nevertheless, residential use featured more
prominently here than in the
centres of many other cities,
since the space required for
business in Berlin was smaller.
The structure of buildings and
occupation was smaller-scale
and more varied than, for instance, in the centres of Frankfurt, Hamburg, or Stuttgart.
As a place to live, the centre
of West Berlin was always a
good but, for a long time, not
a prime address. Many older
buildings had not been refurbished, while more recent
post-war buildings were not
always attractive. There was
(and still is) heavy traffic pollution, while in the days of the
Berlin Wall, suburban residential ideals were stronger than
the desire for urbanity. Nevertheless, those who wanted
to live centrally but still in a
middle-class area almost always chose CharlottenburgWilmersdorf.
between the eponymous forest and Kurfürstendamm. The second-largest apartments in Berlin,
averaging 105 square metres, are on offer there.
Household purchasing power, €4,411, is the third
highest in the city. The housing cost ratio in this
prestigious area is in the upper decile for Berlin.
Its residents are able and willing to expend a large
proportion of their budgets on housing. However,
here as well, the providers have increased their
average asking rents by only 1.4 per cent.
Next in terms of rental value is another city-centre
area, to the south of Tauentzienstrasse (10789).
The €10 per square metre mark was also exceeded
here for the first time in 2014. However, because
of the very high proportion of post-war buildings
in this area, apartments, which have an average
floor area of 84 square metres, are considerably
smaller than elsewhere on the Kurfürstendamm
boulevard. This lowers their total costs. On the
other hand, as the average household purchasing power, €3,861, is on a par with other areas
of Kurfürstendamm, the housing cost ratio here,
28.4 per cent, is perceptibly lower. There is a
somewhat lower average rent in the western end
of Kurfürstendamm, around Halensee station
(10711). Because of its green areas around an attractive lake, as in the area around the Lietzensee
(14057), the median rent has risen to exactly €10.
The latter is the only area not close to Kurfürstendamm to have surpassed this rent threshold.
Distance from the city centre lowers rents
Other areas around City West have rental values between €9 and €10. These include the area
Triple change
Since the fall of the wall, the
centre of the former West Berlin has undergone a triple
change. Firstly, city-wide and
regional functions moved to
the historic centre – with the
important exception of retailing. Secondly, the west has
benefited from the growing
importance of the whole city.
Around eastern Kurfürstendamm, the structure of development changed (and is still
changing) to larger buildings
for retail, services, and hotels.
Thirdly, the area around eastern and central Kurfürstend-
around the Technical University and Otto-SuhrAllee (10587), with a median rent of €9.90 per
square metre. The area around Karl-August-Platz
(10625) has attractive side streets with wellmaintained older buildings. The area around
Hochmeisterplatz (10709), although bordering western Kurfürstendamm, extends as far to
the south as Hohenzollerndamm, which carries
heavy traffic. In southern Wilmersdorf is the area
around Güntzelstrasse (10717), with its many
unique, independent retailers. Westend-Nordost
(14050) is partly a historic upmarket residential
area, although in the north it also has many modest apartments dating from the post-war period.
The median rent in the lowest segment, €6.09
per square metre, is strikingly low by Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf standards.
Small apartments in the north
Asking rents in Schmargendorf-West (14199) and
Westend-West (14052) are also around €9. Both
are green areas outside the S-Bahn ring, where
the residents have very high purchasing power,
although public transport connections and other
routes to Berlin-Mitte are sometimes only fair. Although the area around Mierendorffplatz (10589)
is still part of the inner city, it has a somewhat
isolated situation between waterways and the SBahn ring, with its commercial areas. On average,
the apartments on offer are only 62 square metres
in size, the second-smallest in the district. This
keeps the total costs and therefore the housing
cost ratio low – despite the below-average purchasing power.
amm in particular has become
more exclusive as a residential location. The qualities of
middle- and upper-class older
buildings have increasingly
become appreciated. New, affluent occupiers from parliament and government circles
and from Berlin’s growing
economic sectors hold the address in high regard – as do
well-to-do senior citizens, who
often occupy individual houses
in the best-maintained part of
the city centre.
In competition with commerce
The prices and rents of apart-
ments have risen so much
that, above ground floor level,
residential is able to compete
with commercial occupation
more frequently than before.
For residential occupiers, as
for aspiring service providers, City West is the second
most expensive major location, after the historic centre.
However, according to the latest data, rental growth here
has reached a limit. The apartments on offer are amongst
the largest in Berlin. Multiplied by the rent per square
metre, this results in particularly high total costs.
Rents in areas around Volkspark West (10713) and
East (10715) are around the €9 mark. Both have
popular green residential areas, although there are
also sections between the two city motorways that
suffer from heavy pollution. There is a particularly
large differential in the western area. On the one
hand there are many post-war buildings with a few
high-rise blocks; there is a prominent downmarket segment with an average asking rent of €5.96.
However, there are also some very good residential
areas here, for instance on Sigmaringer Strasse and
the green area to the south of the office buildings
on Fehrbelliner Platz. The upper segment, with a
median rent of €16.50, is also very prominent.
Asking rents under €8 a rarity
Following the Volkspark areas in the rental ranking are two areas that are central and include
well-known buildings: Deutsche Oper (10585)
and Schloss (14059). On the other hand, there
Housing market data
Postcode
Number
of rental
offers
are also many modest buildings. Between
Schloss Charlottenburg and Kaiserdamm is
an area of older buildings that were modernised only conservatively in the 1980s, following the concept of cautious urban renewal – with
the objective of keeping rents low. In the area
around the Deutsche Oper, post-war buildings
and wide roads are dominant. The area around
Rüdesheimer Platz (14197) is much more popular than would be expected from its third-frombottom place in the district rental ranking. The
Eichkamp/Heerstrasse (14055) area, although
green, is somewhat isolated. Charlottenburg
North (13627) is an area of rental housing with
a satellite town feel, in the extreme north of the
district. Some of the smallest apartments on offer are located there. While the asking rents in the
Eichkamp/Heerstrasse area are still above the €8
mark, the backmarker in the district is Charlottenburg North, at €7.40 per square metre.
Housing cost
Basic rent
in all market
segments 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
bottom market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
top market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Apartment size,
average in m2
Total housing
cost 2), average
in €/month
Household
purchasing
power, average
in €/month
Housing
cost ratio3)
in %
10585
316
9.00
(63)
6.50
(41)
15.00
(63)
71
(93)
837
(62)
3,040
(73)
27.5
(67)
10587
335
9.90
(39)
6.43
(51)
15.38
(52)
66
(115)
846
(59)
3,010
(78)
28.1
(55)
10589
310
9.00
(63)
6.40
(55)
15.45
(51)
62
(148)
729
(104)
2,838
(112)
25.7
(95)
10623
195
11.01
(13)
6.70
(33)
16.00
(36)
89
(19)
1,226
(8)
3,898
(16)
31.5
(20)
10625
278
9.53
(43)
6.83
(25)
13.70
(81)
76
(52)
945
(37)
3,146
(62)
30.0
(26)
10627
530
11.79
(4)
7.00
(15)
15.02
(62)
76
(58)
1,110
(14)
3,113
(65)
35.7
(8)
10629
438
10.95
(16)
7.35
(6)
16.01
(35)
102
(4)
1,398
(5)
3,783
(21)
37.0
(5)
10707
460
11.14
(11)
7.33
(8)
16.62
(21)
99
(6)
1,377
(6)
3,639
(24)
37.8
(3)
10709
261
9.50
(45)
6.50
(41)
13.75
(80)
75
(65)
922
(42)
3,246
(50)
28.4
(51)
10711
274
10.00
(26)
7.36
(5)
16.00
(36)
85
(30)
1,089
(19)
3,365
(38)
32.4
(16)
10713
248
9.17
(57)
5.96
(90)
16.50
(26)
73
(75)
875
(54)
3,012
(77)
29.1
(39)
10715
375
8.99
(70)
6.78
(28)
14.29
(74)
70
(99)
826
(66)
3,041
(72)
27.2
(73)
10717
358
9.48
(48)
6.80
(26)
15.00
(63)
81
(39)
995
(31)
3,180
(60)
31.3
(22)
10719
359
10.91
(17)
7.43
(4)
16.00
(36)
103
(3)
1,411
(4)
3,910
(15)
36.1
(6)
10789
128
10.25
(25)
7.69
(1)
16.93
(15)
84
(31)
1,097
(16)
3,861
(17)
28.4
(50)
13627
103
7.40
(132)
5.91
(101)
13.33
(85)
58
(168)
588
(172)
2,440
(180)
24.1
(122)
14050
207
9.39
(52)
6.09
(68)
14.88
(67)
96
(8)
1,172
(11)
3,271
(46)
35.8
(7)
14052
328
9.08
(59)
7.33
(7)
13.27
(87)
92
(13)
1,090
(18)
3,586
(26)
30.4
(25)
14053
5
—
3,432
(33)
—
14055
187
8.24
(94)
6.58
(39)
12.50
(103)
83
(33)
915
(45)
3,994
(13)
22.9
(141)
14057
345
10.00
(26)
6.90
(22)
16.35
(28)
81
(38)
1,042
(27)
3,534
(30)
29.5
(33)
14059
357
8.99
(70)
5.93
(96)
15.33
(55)
69
(106)
812
(67)
2,739
(126)
29.6
(29)
14193
538
10.63
(21)
7.50
(3)
15.14
(61)
105
(2)
1,412
(3)
4,411
(3)
32.0
(17)
14197
279
8.80
(76)
6.25
(60)
12.91
(94)
74
(69)
862
(57)
2,929
(95)
29.4
(34)
14199
265
9.20
(56)
6.71
(31)
13.97
(78)
88
(22)
1,056
(25)
3,400
(35)
31.1
(23)
District1)
7,479
9.82
6.63
15.36
83
1,050
3,291
31.9
Berlin 1)
64,170
8.55
5.50
15.05
71
780
2,951
26.4
—
—
—
—
1) median 2) includes operating costs (BBU 2012) 2.83 €/m² (western Berlin) and 2.51 €/m² (all of Berlin) 3) rent (incl. utilities) as percent of household purchasing power
( ) rank among the 190 postcodes with rental data
Sources: CBRE based on data from empirica-systeme, Michael Bauer Research (purchasing power); compiled by CBRE
Housing cost ratio
of households in %
33.0 and over
30.0 –32.9
28.0 –29.9
26.0 –27.9
24.0 –25.9
22.0 –23.9
20.0 –21.9
up to 19.9
© Cartography: Nexiga, 2006 – 2014 Tom Tom
Insufficientnumberofcases
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg:
High asking rents, often for small apartments
Following three years of rapid rises in asking
rents, on average there was a tendency towards
stabilisation in 2014. Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
still leads the field for advertised rents in Berlin,
a position that it has held since 2012. The median
asking rent of all postcodes in the district has
now reached or crossed the €10 per square metre threshold. The highest, €11.70, is in the area
around Görlitzer Park (postcode 10999), which
is therefore statistically among the five most expensive in Berlin. It is closely followed by the area
around Mehringdamm (10965) and Wrangelstrasse (10997).
Highest values in the upper market segment
The two adjacent neighbourhoods, Görlitzer Park
and Wrangelstrasse, are decidedly fashionable
and are particularly well-known and popular with
the younger and foreign “new” Berliners. Before
the fall of the wall, they were situated in a “blind
spot” of West Berlin, with weak economic and social development. Providers are now asking the
highest rents in Berlin in the upper market segment to the south and west of Görlitz station. So
far, the average rental value in the upper decile is
still the only one in the city to have exceeded €20
per square metre. The upper market segments in
the areas around Wrangelstrasse, Graefestrasse
(10967) and Gneisenaustrasse (10961) in southwestern Kreuzberg are also among the 10 most
expensive in Berlin.
The average rent per square metre of all apartments on offer around Graefestrasse, not only
those in the topmost segment, rose particularly
rapidly in 2013. Perhaps the growth was too quick
because, on average, advertised rents have fallen
again since. It is possible that landlords were testing the limits of potential tenants’ willingness to
pay, only to discover that these were lower than
they had hoped. Because of the decline, the area
around Graefestrasse is no longer top in terms of
asking rents in the district. It is now only in sixth
position, below the areas around Görlitzer Park,
Mehringdamm, Wrangelstrasse, Gneisenaustrasse
and Prinzenstrasse (10969), which has a high
proportion of post-war apartments. The overall
market there was previously less expensive than
all other areas of the district. However, because
of the new developments in the area, the median
rent increased particularly sharply in 2014.
High rents for small apartments
In terms of overall size of apartments, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg is near the bottom of the scale
in Berlin. The apartments on offer are, on average, the second-smallest in the city, just ahead of
Neukölln. Four of the six areas mentioned, with
the highest asking rents per square metre in the
upper segment of the market, have apartments
with floor areas averaging 54 to 58 square metres, which is at the lower end for the district.
Only around Mehringdamm and Prinzenstrasse
do the floor areas of the units on offer exceed the
60-square-metre mark. In the other four areas,
the comparatively small residential units result in
total costs per apartment that are around the Berlin average. This means that it is still not essential
to have an above-average income in order to find
an apartment in these trendy areas. This attracts
people for whom the location in a particular area
is so important that they are prepared to put up
with a rather small apartment.
The average household purchasing power of the
residents of most of the areas in the district is
low. Households therefore often have to pay a
relatively large amount of their income when taking a new tenancy of an apartment, i.e. they are
prepared to accept a high housing cost ratio. This
is also an indication of the high regard in which
particular locations are held. The highest housing cost ratio in the district, by a wide margin, is
on Mehringdamm, where the apartments on offer are larger than in many of the neighbouring
areas. It is followed by the areas around the Ostbahnhof (10243) and Samariterstrasse (10247) in
Friedrichshain, which have the lowest household
purchasing power in the district.
Continuing division of the district
The lower market segment – the decile of apartments in an area that have the least expensive
asking prices per square metre – is of particular importance for apartment hunters on low
incomes. This section of the market has also
become noticeably dearer. The area around Ostkreuz (10245) in Friedrichshain now has average
asking rents of €7 per square metre per month
in this segment. The area around the Volkspark
Friedrichshain (10249) is only slightly lower. At
the other end of the scale is the area around
Wrangelstrasse, where apartments in the lowest
decile are on offer at €5.56, and the vicinity
of Prinzenstrasse.
In geographical terms the district is divided in
terms of rental values. The most expensive areas
are in the Kreuzberg subdistrict, the cheaper
ones in Friedrichshain, with the exception of
Kreuzberg-West (10963). Household purchasing power is similarly divided: it is considerably
higher in Kreuzberg than in Friedrichshain. The
western part of Friedrichshain is heavily dominated by Plattenbau (prefab high-rise) buildings
from the GDR period, some of which are still
occupied by their original tenants.
Housing cost ratio
of households in %
33.0 and over
30.0 –32.9
28.0 –29.9
26.0 –27.9
24.0 –25.9
22.0 –23.9
20.0 –21.9
up to 19.9
Housing market data
Postcode
Number
of rental
offers
Housing cost
Basic rent
in all market
segments 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
bottom market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
top market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Apartment size,
average in m2
Total housing
cost 2), average
in €/month
Household
purchasing
power, average
in €/month
Housing
cost ratio3)
in %
10243
672
10.00
(26)
6.77
(29)
16.00
(36)
61
(155)
740
(94)
2,575
(157)
28.7
(41)
10245
1,075
10.00
(26)
7.00
(15)
16.52
(24)
61
(151)
746
(92)
2,677
(138)
27.8
(59)
10247
1,226
10.00
(26)
6.50
(41)
16.57
(23)
61
(156)
739
(95)
2,594
(152)
28.5
(48)
10249
948
10.00
(26)
6.85
(24)
16.36
(27)
61
(149)
747
(91)
2,618
(149)
28.5
(46)
10961
439
11.00
(14)
6.67
(35)
18.10
(7)
56
(175)
768
(80)
2,763
(122)
27.8
(62)
10963
285
10.00
(26)
6.71
(31)
16.80
(16)
73
(79)
931
(40)
3,476
(32)
26.8
(75)
10965
412
11.21
(9)
6.67
(35)
17.39
(12)
66
(121)
923
(41)
2,848
(108)
32.4
(15)
10967
402
10.50
(22)
6.07
(72)
18.18
(6)
58
(167)
769
(79)
2,771
(120)
27.7
(63)
10969
442
10.90
(18)
5.94
(94)
15.22
(56)
63
(132)
867
(56)
3,035
(74)
28.6
(49)
10997
423
11.15
(10)
5.56
(130)
18.57
(2)
54
(179)
756
(88)
2,897
(99)
26.1
(89)
10999
560
11.71
(5)
6.05
(76)
20.16
(1)
55
(176)
799
(70)
3,066
(71)
26.1
(90)
District 1)
6,884
10.39
6.48
17.39
60
779
2,800
27.8
Berlin 1)
64,170
8.55
5.50
15.05
71
780
2,951
26.4
1) median 2) includes operating costs (BBU 2012) 2.19 €/m² (eastern Berlin) and 2.83 €/m² (western Berlin) and 2.51 €/m² (all of Berlin) 3) rent (incl. utilities) as percent of household purchasing power
Lichtenberg:
Lower-cost alternative to the city centre
The Lichtenberg district extends from the S-Bahn
ring, which encircles the city centre, to the northeastern edge of the city. It is being increasingly
discovered as an alternative location by apartment hunters for whom the supply inside the
S-Bahn ring is inadequate and/or too expensive.
For example, the second- and third-highest median rents in Lichtenberg are in areas that adjoin
heavily-sought-after Friedrichshain: Rummelsburg (postcode 10317) and around the Stadtpark
(10367). The leader in terms of median asking
rents is, however, Karlshorst (10318), the southernmost subdistrict of Lichtenberg, where “green”
areas of villas and apartment buildings predominate. On average, landlords asked €8.81 per
square metre for new lettings there in 2014.
Moderate rents in the north of the district
The area around Siegfriedstrasse (10365) and
leafy, attractive Alt-Hohenschönhausen (13053),
which also adjoin Friedrichshain, are other parts
of Lichtenberg that have now exceeded the €8
limit. Their residents have the highest purchasing
power in the district. Fennpfuhl (10369), in the geographical centre of the district and still just under the €8 mark, is a Plattenbau (prefab high-rise)
area with attractive green space.
The lowest asking rents, still averaging less than €7,
are in three areas that are dominated by Plattenbau buildings from the GDR period: Friedrichsfelde
South (10319) and the peripheral areas of Wartenberg (13059) and Falkenberg (13057), which include parts of the large 1980s Hohenschönhausen
Housing market data
Postcode
Number
of rental
offers
estate. However, the shortage of supply of rental
apartments in the latter two areas diminishes the
statistical significance of the median rents there.
In terms of the size of apartments on offer, the
most expensive of the Lichtenberg postcodes
also boasts the largest in the district. The average
floor area of the units advertised was 76 square
metres. In contrast, in four areas of the district
the average is less than 60 square metres: Rummelsburg, Friedrichsfelde South, Siegfriedstrasse
and Malchow (13051). In all the remaining areas
the residential accommodation of the units averages between 62 and 71 square metres.
Housing cost ratio mostly moderate
Apart from in Karlshorst and Alt-Hohenschönhausen, the household purchasing power in
the district is below the Berlin average overall. However, as the asking rents and the average apartment sizes are comparatively moderate,
commonly only a smaller relative proportion of
purchasing power has to be allocated to accommodation. The average housing cost ratio, i.e. the
relationship between total costs of accommodation and purchasing power, in the district is considerably lower than in the city as a whole. The
greatest upward divergence is in the Stadtpark
area, although the ratio of asking rents to household purchasing power in Karlshorst is also above
the Berlin average. However, the housing cost ratios in all other Lichtenberg postcodes are moderate. They are particularly low in Falkenberg and
Malchow, in the north of the district.
Housing cost
Basic rent
in all market
segments 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
bottom market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
top market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Apartment size,
average in m2
Total housing
cost 2), average
in €/month
Household
purchasing
power, average
in €/month
Housing
cost ratio3)
in %
10315
404
7.50
(124)
5.20
(159)
10.66
(131)
62
(141)
604
(163)
2,419
(185)
25.0
(105)
10317
418
8.49
(86)
5.96
(90)
14.40
(71)
59
(161)
632
(148)
2,569
(160)
24.6
(114)
10318
517
8.81
(75)
6.49
(44)
10.76
(129)
76
(60)
833
(63)
2,997
(80)
27.8
(60)
10319
139
6.97
(154)
5.50
(136)
8.64
(177)
59
(163)
540
(178)
2,358
(188)
22.9
(139)
10365
305
8.04
(100)
5.66
(121)
12.67
(101)
58
(164)
595
(167)
2,524
(168)
23.6
(130)
10367
175
8.29
(91)
5.70
(117)
13.04
(91)
71
(95)
740
(96)
2,529
(167)
29.2
(36)
10369
135
7.92
(112)
5.93
(96)
11.25
(117)
64
(129)
645
(142)
2,596
(151)
24.8
(108)
13051
86
7.04
(147)
5.06
(166)
10.34
(140)
56
(173)
515
(183)
2,844
(110)
18.1
(187)
13053
160
8.03
(102)
5.92
(100)
10.50
(135)
70
(101)
711
(109)
3,193
(57)
22.3
(155)
13055
308
7.14
(141)
5.17
(161)
9.92
(161)
66
(118)
616
(156)
2,788
(116)
22.1
(158)
13057
76
6.01
(177)
4.71
(180)
8.90
(174)
64
(127)
525
(179)
2,711
(131)
19.4
(180)
13059
33
6.79
(166)
5.21
(158)
9.90
(162)
62
(143)
556
(176)
2,714
(130)
20.5
(171)
District 1)
2,756
7.98
5.50
11.56
65
661
2,666
24.8
Berlin 1)
64,170
8.55
5.50
15.05
71
780
2,951
26.4
1) median 2) includes operating costs (BBU 2012) 2.19 €/m² (eastern Berlin) and 2.51 €/m² (all of Berlin) 3) rent (incl. utilities) as percent of household purchasing power
Housing cost ratio
of households in %
33.0 and over
30.0 –32.9
28.0 –29.9
26.0 –27.9
24.0 –25.9
22.0 –23.9
20.0 –21.9
up to 19.9
Marzahn-Hellersdorf:
Low-priced refuge despite rising rents
In absolute terms, the growth in asking rents in
Marzahn-Hellersdorf was close to the Berlin average in 2014. However, because it started from
a very low level, it was proportionally somewhat
higher. Nevertheless, the district is still, by a wide
margin, the cheapest for tenants. This is due both
to its peripheral location and the austere, monumental character of the two large housing estates
that were built there in the 1970s and 80s.
Their dominance makes it easy to forget, however,
that on the edge of the city there are also extensive areas that are characterised by single houses
and smaller apartment buildings: Mahlsdorf (postcode 12623), Kaulsdorf (12621) and Biesdorf
(12683). Situated to the south and east of the
large estates, they are the only areas in the district to have an average monthly household purchasing power in excess of €3,000 – and also the
only ones to have average asking rents well over
€7 per square metre per month.
Favourable housing costs in all areas
The apartments on offer in Mahlsdorf and Kaulsdorf are much larger than those in the centre of
the district, so that the highest total monthly
costs are payable there. Because of the relatively
high incomes for the district, however, the asking rents as a proportion of purchasing power are
well below the Berlin average.
At the other end of the scale for Berlin are the
housing cost ratios in two central parts of the
huge Marzahn estate, around Mehrower Allee
(12687) and Raoul-Wallenberg-Strasse (12679).
Although the purchasing power in both these areas is only moderate, the rents asked are almost
Housing market data
Postcode
Number
of rental
offers
the lowest in Berlin. The housing cost ratio in the
Plattenbau (prefab high-rise) areas of this district
is lower than almost anywhere else in the city.
Only Marzahn-Mitte (12685) stands out somewhat from the other areas of the district in this
respect. It has very good amenities and new development has taken place since the 1990s and
there are particularly attractive residential areas
near the preserved historic village centre of Marzahn and the Kienberg. The latter is already home
to the “Gardens of the World” and is to be the
venue of an international garden show in 2017.
Positive developments in the district
None of the apartments on offer in the large estates are generously-sized but neither are any
of them extremely small. They have floor areas
between 60 and 72 square metres. Such apartments are also of interest to young families, so
that there is no danger of a high percentage of
old people or a disproportionate amount of small
singles apartments in Marzahn-Hellersdorf. The
increasing shortage in other districts is a blessing for this one. It is once again attracting normal earners: a few artists have even been seen
moving there. What was, for a long period, the
highest vacancy anywhere in the city has very recently started to fall. The increasing tension in the
Berlin housing market is therefore not resulting
in Marzahn-Hellersdorf becoming a socially deprived area, as was feared by some, but to a more
strongly mixed and solid social structure. This
district of Berlin is miles away from having the
kind of conditions seen, for example, in the Banlieues (outer suburbs) of French cities.
Housing cost
Basic rent
in all market
segments 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
bottom market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
top market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Apartment size,
average in m2
Total housing
cost 2), average
in €/month
Household
purchasing
power, average
in €/month
Housing
cost ratio3)
in %
12619
528
5.87
(178)
4.70
(181)
8.62
(178)
61
(158)
488
(187)
2,503
(174)
19.5
(178)
12621
80
7.66
(119)
4.85
(175)
12.25
(106)
79
(46)
774
(78)
3,644
(23)
21.2
(168)
12623
114
7.63
(120)
5.80
(109)
10.00
(149)
78
(47)
763
(83)
3,567
(28)
21.4
(167)
12627
743
5.80
(181)
4.90
(173)
8.38
(184)
65
(125)
516
(182)
2,579
(156)
20.0
(176)
12629
237
5.80
(181)
4.96
(171)
8.40
(182)
63
(131)
506
(185)
2,517
(171)
20.1
(175)
12679
288
5.51
(185)
4.77
(179)
7.79
(186)
64
(130)
489
(186)
2,572
(159)
19.0
(184)
12681
178
6.26
(175)
4.70
(181)
9.94
(160)
62
(147)
521
(181)
2,746
(125)
19.0
(186)
12683
203
7.50
(124)
5.10
(164)
10.25
(144)
65
(123)
635
(147)
3,218
(54)
19.7
(177)
12685
277
6.95
(156)
4.78
(178)
8.50
(180)
72
(87)
656
(134)
2,922
(96)
22.4
(152)
12687
173
5.50
(186)
4.28
(187)
8.62
(178)
66
(120)
506
(184)
2,667
(142)
19.0
(185)
12689
323
5.71
(183)
4.85
(175)
7.54
(187)
66
(116)
524
(180)
2,705
(132)
19.4
(181)
District 1)
3,144
5.96
4.75
8.80
65
532
2,866
18.6
Berlin 1)
64,170
8.55
5.50
15.05
71
780
2,951
26.4
Housing cost ratio
of households in %
33.0 and over
30.0 –32.9
28.0 –29.9
26.0 –27.9
24.0 –25.9
22.0 –23.9
20.0 –21.9
up to 19.9
Mitte: Rents static in the centre, peripheral
areas catching up
The Berlin-Mitte district is comprised of three
very different sections: firstly, the historic centre of the city; secondly, to the west, the former
Tiergarten district with its eponymous park, Potsdamer Platz, the Hansa Quarter, and the Moabit
subdistrict; and thirdly the former Wedding district, with for the most part low purchasing power
and relatively low rents. As in many towns and
cities, the areas right in the centre of Berlin are
also the most expensive. The Unter den Linden
(postcode 10117) area has the highest median
asking rents in Berlin, €12.90 per square metre.
Sharing second place, at €12.50 per square metre, are Hackescher Markt (10178) and Rosenthaler Platz (10119), which adjoin to the northeast. The topmost market segment is also very
prominent in these three areas. The average
rental values of the most expensive decile of
apartments on offer range from €17.65 in the Unter den Linden area to €18.46 around Hackescher
Markt, which also ranks third in Berlin as a whole.
It also includes an appreciable downmarket segment. The asking rents of the lowest-priced
decile of the apartments on offer currently average €5.95. The Hackescher Markt postcode extends well to the east, including Alexanderplatz
and the Plattenbau area around Karl-Marx-Allee.
Moderate purchasing power in the centre
Of the high-value areas mentioned, only Unter
den Linden has extremely high average household purchasing power (€3,808 per month) putting it in 19th place in the city. Rosenthaler Platz
is in 61st place with €3,147 while Hackescher
Markt is 89th with €2,956 – almost exactly the
median of the 190 Berlin postcodes. Two of the
three areas rank considerably more highly in
terms of the size of the apartments on offer: Unter den Linden has the fifth-largest apartments in
Berlin, while Hackescher Markt is in 16th place. In
combination with the peak rents per square metre, this leads to particularly high total costs of
the apartments. Their relationship to household
purchasing power, the housing cost ratio, is the
highest in Berlin around Hackescher Markt: 44.1
per cent, while Unter den Linden is in second
place due to its higher purchasing power. The
limits of ability or willingness to pay have apparently been reached, however. In 2014 the median
asking rent per square metre on Unter den Linden fell by 1.6 per cent and on Hackescher Markt
by as much as 3.8 per cent.
Sharp drop in rents around Potsdamer Platz
The somewhat more moderately-priced neighbouring areas, Chausseestrasse (10115), Potsdamer Platz (10785) and Jannowitzbrücke
(10179), where the median asking rents are
a euro or two per square metre cheaper, offer
an alternative to the very central locations. Although the centrality is still very high, more
properties for smaller budgets are on offer. This
applies in particular to the area around Potsdamer Platz, which includes not only the large
new Daimler and Sony areas dating from the
1990s and the luxurious diplomatic quarter, but
also basic older and post-war buildings to the
south of the Landwehrkanal, around Potsdamer
Extensive supply in central locations
City centre with high proportion of residential
In contrast to many other German cities, there is a large proportion of residential accommodation in the historic centre
of Berlin. It differs from comparable cities, where there are
almost always only offices, retailers, hotels and other service
providers in the centre. These
current circumstances are a
welcome delayed effect of the
former GDR, in which there was
no commercial dynamism in
the city centre and therefore no
corresponding pressure for displacement. Areas of old build30 Housing Market Report | 2015 | Berlin
ings could therefore be retained
and derelict sites were often
redeveloped with new apartments. However, because of the
economic weakness, some of
this housing remained empty
or was underused. There was
also the wide, completely undeveloped border strip along the
Berlin Wall, which ran northsouth through the district. Because of these conditions, there
was wide space available for
new housing developments in
the Mitte district from 1990.
Very diverse mixture
This explains why, by a wide
margin, most apartments
on offer in the Mitte district
are in the Unter den Linden,
Rosenthaler Platz and Chausseestrasse areas, which are
also among the most active
markets in the whole city.
Above all, they are sought-after
as a residential location by
young people moving to Berlin. Another phenomenon is the
continuing very diverse social
mixture and types of buildings
in the area. Cheek by jowl there
are fully or less-extensively refurbished old buildings, Plattenbau (prefab construction)
buildings from the GDR period,
Strasse and Lützowstrasse. The household purchasing power in this area, which averages
€3,958, is high overall.
Many long-term tenants close to the centre
Household purchasing power is almost €1,100
lower around Jannowitzbrücke, where many
senior citizens live in small apartments on the
Fischerinsel and in Karl-Marx-Allee, dating from
the GDR period. Because of the relatively low incomes, the housing cost ratio in this area, 37.3
per cent, is particularly high and ranks in fourth
place in Berlin. Rental growth in 2014 was very
strong – 8.4 per cent – while in both the other
areas mentioned the rents, which were already
higher, are now stagnating, with only 0.2 per
cent growth.
The next areas in the rental value ranking, with
median asking rents between €9 and €10 per
square metre, are in the Tiergarten subdistrict
near to the river Spree. Moabit Southeast (10557)
not only includes the Government Quarter, the
Central Station, the Hansa Quarter and the attractive locations on the banks of the Spree, but also
more modest neighbourhoods between Rathenower Strasse and Lehrter Strasse. Next in terms
of median asking rent is the adjoining area, AltMoabit West (10555), and, further to the north,
the area around Stephanstrasse (10559), where
the median asking rent has risen by a particularly
strong 18.8 per cent.
The area around the Zoo (10787), already on the
edge of City West, includes aspiring younger
neighbourhoods such as the Tiergarten-Dreieck
high-quality and also hastily
thrown-up properties to benefit
from the special tax write-offs
in the 1990s, housing association complexes, development
consortium projects, and luxury
new buildings. The occupiers
here are as widely mixed as the
development structure. However, most of the apartments
available are now concentrated
in the upmarket and top segments. More modest apartments in the centre of Berlin
often change on the quiet and
are transferred to friends and
acquaintances without appearing on the official market.
and the architectural and sometimes unconventional urban villas around Rauchstrasse, which
were constructed for the 1987 International
Building Exhibition. The median asking rent
there is also just over the €9 mark.
The upswing is also coming to Moabit
In northern and western Moabit, median asking rents range between €8.15 and €8.96 in
the Beusselstrasse (10553) and Birkenstrasse
(10551) areas. For a long period, these areas, which are dominated by 1950s and 1960s
buildings, the Siemens works and the Westhafen, enjoyed little of the upswing in the Berlin residential market. Although they are still
among the lowest-priced areas inside the SBahn ring, even here the asking rents have increased substantially in some cases. However,
in both areas the average rents for the lowestpriced decile of the apartments on offer are still
around €6 per square metre. A top segment
for aspiring and well-off tenants is also developing, however. The most expensive decile of
the apartments on offer here are in the Birkenstrasse area, where asking rents are up to
€15.91. A feature is the small size of the apartments on offer. The smallest being marketed in
Moabit, around Beusselstrasse, have an average floor area of only 56 square metres.
Low rents around Gesundbrunnen
The Beusselstrasse area, where the median asking rent is €8.15, is the cheapest in Moabit. The
advertised rents there are even lower than two
Some modest stock
Because of the central location, even the more modestly
fitted-out apartments in the
historic centre of Berlin are
more expensive than elsewhere. However, the centre
cannot be expected to become a homogeneous area of
luxury residences. Often, the
modest housing stock is not
suitable for modernisation
to today‘s exacting requirements. For older buildings
this is limited by pollution in
the environment, cramped
courtyards or listing as monuments. In the prefab concrete
high-rise buildings the storey heights are low, while the
layouts are restrictive and for
structural reasons unsuitable
for major alterations. This often does not put off single
people, pensioners and other
small households not requiring prestigious accommodation, even though, compared
with some apartments outside
the centre of Berlin a city-centre premium has to be paid
in every quality bracket. Very
densely-planned new developments, designed for middleincome tenants, are therefore
still viable in Berlin-Mitte.
areas of the former Wedding district, which covers the north of the Mitte district. However, the
median asking rent close to Westhafen (13353)
in that area has now risen to €8.26 per square
metre. The area includes two important facilities: the Beuth University of Applied Sciences
and the Rudolf-Virchow clinic. It has attractive
residential districts, particularly on the Nordufer.
Further to the west in the catchment area of the
Gesundbrunnen station (13357) there are idyllic
locations close to the small river Panke. The median asking rent there, €8.25, has risen sharply
recently. The average size of apartments on offer,
54 square metres, is even lower than in the subdistricts of Moabit already mentioned, while the
average household purchasing power, €2,768, is
the highest by Wedding standards. On the other
hand, this results in a housing cost ratio of only
21.8 per cent – the lowest in the whole of the
Mitte district. In Wedding, the €8 threshold has
also been surpassed in the central area around
Nauener Platz (13347). Although very low-priced
apartments, averaging €5.38 per square metre,
are on offer in the bottom segment of the market,
the topmost segment is very expensive, at an average of €16.09.
Housing market data
Postcode
Number
of rental
offers
Wedding North: green but still reasonably priced
All the other areas of Wedding have median asking rents below €8 per square metre. However,
near Rehberge (13351), the area with the smallest apartments in the district on offer – only 53
square metres, they average only two cents lower
than this figure. The median asking rents rose
by 6.4 per cent here, the same amount of growth
as in the Soldiner Strasse (13359) area in the extreme northeast of the Mitte district. However, the
median asking rents there, €7.71 per square metre, are noticeably lower.
Similar to Rehberge, the area around the Schillerpark (13349) is green but at present still suffers from aircraft noise. The purchasing power in
the area, €2,360, is the lowest in the Mitte district
and the fifth-lowest in Berlin, not least because
of the high proportion of pensioners. In the lowest position in the rental ranking for the district is
the Humboldthain (13355) area. This is the only
part of the Mitte district still to have a median
asking rent below €7 per square metre. Although
this area directly adjoins the booming old centre
of Berlin, it was extensively refurbished during
the period when the city was divided and is now
largely owned by a State-owned housing company.
Housing cost
Basic rent
in all market
segments 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
bottom market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
top market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Apartment size,
average in m2
Total housing
cost 2), average
in €/month
Household
purchasing
power, average
in €/month
Housing
cost ratio3)
in %
10115
1,132
11.53
(7)
6.72
(30)
16.96
(14)
79
(44)
1,088
(17)
3,136
(63)
34.7
10117
1,139
12.90
(1)
6.93
(20)
17.65
(9)
99
(5)
1,495
(1)
3,808
(19)
39.3
(2)
10119
720
12.50
(2)
7.03
(14)
18.33
(4)
75
(64)
1,098
(15)
3,147
(61)
34.9
(10)
10178
441
12.50
(2)
5.95
(92)
18.46
(3)
89
(16)
1,304
(7)
2,956
(89)
44.1
(1)
10179
448
10.84
(19)
7.13
(13)
16.00
(36)
82
(35)
1,069
(22)
2,863
(104)
37.3
(4)
10551
418
8.96
(72)
6.04
(77)
15.91
(46)
56
(171)
666
(130)
2,639
(145)
25.2
(104)
10553
331
8.15
(97)
5.98
(89)
14.38
(72)
56
(174)
612
(160)
2,566
(161)
23.8
(129)
10555
439
9.42
(50)
6.49
(44)
15.00
(63)
64
(128)
783
(75)
2,772
(119)
28.3
(52)
10557
336
9.73
(40)
6.00
(81)
15.20
(57)
63
(136)
791
(74)
2,958
(88)
26.8
(76)
10559
430
9.22
(55)
6.00
(81)
16.67
(19)
61
(152)
737
(97)
2,681
(137)
27.5
(68)
10785
340
11.25
(8)
6.09
(69)
16.68
(18)
82
(34)
1,160
(12)
3,958
(14)
29.3
(35)
10787
195
9.05
(60)
6.80
(26)
16.00
(36)
79
(45)
942
(38)
3,561
(29)
26.5
(81)
13347
593
8.08
(98)
5.38
(143)
16.09
(32)
58
(166)
630
(151)
2,753
(123)
22.9
(142)
(11)
13349
267
7.26
(133)
6.00
(81)
14.58
(69)
59
(162)
597
(168)
2,360
(186)
25.3
(102)
13351
298
7.98
(110)
5.86
(106)
13.91
(79)
53
(180)
575
(174)
2,446
(178)
23.5
(134)
13353
583
8.26
(92)
5.69
(118)
15.20
(57)
57
(170)
627
(152)
2,506
(173)
25.0
(107)
13355
247
6.96
(155)
4.50
(185)
15.48
(50)
62
(144)
605
(164)
2,685
(135)
22.5
(151)
13357
575
8.25
(93)
5.53
(134)
15.00
(63)
54
(178)
603
(165)
2,768
(121)
21.8
(162)
13359
514
7.71
(117)
5.36
(145)
14.00
(76)
56
(172)
595
(169)
2,520
(169)
23.6
(132)
District1)
9,446
10.00
5.86
16.52
71
884
2,816
31.4
Berlin 1)
64,170
8.55
5.50
15.05
71
780
2,951
26.4
1) median 2) includes operating costs (BBU 2012) 2.19 €/m² (eastern Berlin) and 2.83 €/m² (western Berlin) and 2.51 €/m² (all of Berlin) 3) rent (incl. utilities) as percent of household purchasing power
Housing cost ratio
of households in %
33.0 and over
30.0 –32.9
28.0 –29.9
26.0 –27.9
24.0 –25.9
22.0 –23.9
20.0 –21.9
up to 19.9
Neukölln: Sought-after urban north,
peaceful green south
The internal differentials in Neukölln are still widening. As in previous years, in 2014 the asking
rents in most of the areas of older buildings in
the north of the district rose faster than the city
average. In contrast, there were only small increases in the Sonnenallee South area and in Gropiusstadt, and in the green, sparsely-developed
sections of Buckow and Rudow on the southern
edge of the city. The area around Maybachufer
(postcode 12047) in the northern tip of the district directly adjoining Kreuzberg, is still top of
the league table of asking rents, at €10.37 per
square metre. There was particularly strong rental
growth there in previous years, although rents
are now only moderately increasing.
High rents, small apartments
Median asking rents of €10 per square metre have
now also been reached in the adjoining areas
around the north of Sonnenallee (12045) and Hermannstrasse West (12049). Rental growth in both
these areas, as well as in Britz West (12347) and
Richardplatz (12055), was particularly strong in
2014. Average rents well over €9 are now also being asked around the Rathaus (town hall) Neukölln
(12043) and Rollbergstrasse (12053).
Unusually small apartments are a common feature
of all the areas in northern Neukölln. The average
floor areas of the units on offer, 49 to 54 square
metres, rank as the smallest anywhere in Berlin.
Housing market data
Postcode
Number
of rental
offers
Most of the buildings date from the imperial period and were constructed for somewhat poorer
sections of the population. Even now, household
purchasing power there is well below the Berlin
average. Despite the considerably increased rents
per square metre, the total costs of the small apartments are limited, so that even lower-earning residents can afford apartments in the area. Even in the
peak areas of Maybachufer and Sonnenallee North,
the housing cost ratio is around the average for the
whole of Berlin.
The housing cost ratios in the south of the district
rank well below those in the north. They are almost the lowest in Berlin in Rudow East (12357)
and Rudow South (12355), where the asking rents,
around €7, are very moderate but household purchasing power is well above the Berlin average.
Rental growth is also slow here at the moment, because the opening of the nearby major airport has
been indefinitely postponed. The airport will be
within fast and easy reach of this area, although
the flight paths will not affect Rudow.
Overall, the southern parts of the district have
the lowest asking rents. These are at a minimum
in Buckow East (12353), where the Gropiusstadt
is situated, and in Sonnenallee South, which adjoins the city centre but is affected by traffic and
commercial properties. The rents around Johannisthaler Chaussee (12351), in Rudow South and
Buckow West (12349) are also very moderate.
Housing cost
Basic rent
in all market
segments 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
bottom market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
top market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Apartment size,
average in m2
Total housing
cost 2), average
in €/month
Household
purchasing
power, average
in €/month
Housing
cost ratio3)
in %
12043
324
9.54
(42)
5.36
(145)
16.74
(17)
49
(187)
609
(161)
2,621
(148)
23.2
(135)
12045
381
10.00
(26)
5.18
(160)
17.62
(10)
50
(186)
647
(141)
2,468
(177)
26.2
(86)
12047
295
10.37
(23)
6.08
(70)
18.00
(8)
52
(183)
686
(116)
2,606
(150)
26.3
(85)
12049
456
10.00
(38)
6.52
(40)
17.60
(11)
51
(185)
649
(140)
2,437
(181)
26.6
(78)
12051
616
8.94
(73)
6.01
(80)
15.91
(46)
52
(184)
607
(162)
2,677
(139)
22.7
(146)
12053
267
9.32
(53)
5.33
(150)
16.00
(36)
53
(182)
643
(146)
2,677
(140)
24.0
(123)
12055
331
9.00
(63)
6.08
(70)
16.15
(31)
53
(181)
627
(153)
2,560
(162)
24.5
(115)
12057
149
6.47
(174)
5.30
(153)
12.50
(103)
65
(124)
601
(166)
2,726
(129)
22.1
(160)
12059
372
9.00
(63)
6.07
(72)
16.25
(29)
54
(177)
644
(144)
2,444
(179)
26.4
(84)
12347
268
7.56
(122)
5.79
(111)
12.75
(99)
63
(133)
656
(136)
2,747
(124)
23.9
(126)
12349
190
7.03
(148)
5.69
(118)
9.60
(166)
68
(110)
672
(126)
3,076
(70)
21.8
(161)
12351
145
6.86
(163)
5.44
(142)
10.00
(149)
68
(111)
660
(133)
2,917
(97)
22.6
(148)
12353
226
6.47
(173)
4.87
(174)
9.26
(170)
72
(85)
669
(128)
3,008
(79)
22.2
(157)
12355
329
7.00
(150)
5.61
(126)
9.78
(164)
70
(97)
690
(114)
3,396
(36)
20.3
(173)
12357
94
7.16
(139)
5.88
(104)
10.29
(142)
71
(92)
708
(111)
3,629
(25)
19.5
(179)
12359
201
7.15
(140)
5.54
(133)
11.81
(113)
62
(140)
622
(155)
2,685
(136)
23.2
(137)
District1)
4,644
8.50
5.53
15.91
57
647
2,805
23.1
Berlin 1)
64,170
8.55
5.50
15.05
71
780
2,951
26.4
Housing cost ratio
of households in %
33.0 and over
30.0 –32.9
28.0 –29.9
26.0 –27.9
24.0 –25.9
22.0 –23.9
20.0 –21.9
up to 19.9
Pankow: Upswing in intermediate locations,
Prenzlauer Berg at the limit
Pankow, already the most populous district of
Berlin, is anticipating additional strong population growth. Asking rents are currently rising
most quickly in the areas between Prenzlauer
Berg and the green localities on the edge of the
city: around Pistoriusstrasse (postcode 13086),
Ostseestrasse (10409) and Neumannstrasse
(13189). None of these areas are part of the inner
city inside the S-Bahn ring, although they are all
well-connected to the city. Despite the recent rise,
the median asking rents around Pistoriusstrasse
and Neumannstrasse are still below average for
the city as a whole. Average purchasing power is
very low in the three areas. This leads to very high
housing cost ratios, i.e. for tenants an unfavourable relationship between median asking rents
and household purchasing power.
However, this ratio is even higher in the south
of the district, around Prenzlauer Berg. In terms
of housing cost ratio, the areas around Kollwitzplatz (10435), Prenzlauer Allee (10405), Helmholtzplatz (10437) and Arnimplatz (10439) are in
the highest decile in Berlin. The median asking
rents have now exceeded the €10 threshold in all
these areas except Arnimplatz, where it has been
exactly equalled. As Prenzlauer Berg is still not an
extremely affluent subdistrict, in view of the high
prices, housing costs are well above average.
Housing market data
Postcode
Number
of rental
offers
There is a pronounced topmost market segment
around Prenzlauer Berg: asking rents for the most
expensive decile of apartments on offer range between €16.52 (Arnimplatz) and €18.24 (Kollwitzplatz) on average. However, as many other apartments are relatively modest, this sets limits on the
willingness to pay rent, despite the good location.
In some cases this limit has already been reached:
a shift of demand to the north has been evident in
the last few years. An additional indicator: in the
most expensive area around Kollwitzplatz, the median asking rents fell by 2.2 per cent in 2014.
Favourable conditions in the north
Asking rents in the green areas of northern
Pankow are rising only moderately and are still the
lowest. There are low-priced properties on offer in
Karow/Buch (13125), which is now the only area
in the district to have rents averaging less than €7
per square metre. Rents in Heinersdorf, Buchholz
(13127), the area around Buschallee (13088) and
Rosenthal (13158) are between €7 and €8.
Pankow still has apartments available at low
rents. On average, less than €6 per square metre is being asked for the lowest-priced deciles of
the local supply in Buschallee, Karow/Buch and
Ostseestrasse. The lowest rents in this modest
segment are however in the city-centre locality
around Danziger Strasse (10407).
Housing cost
Basic rent
in all market
segments 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
bottom market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
top market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Apartment size,
average in m2
Total housing
cost 2), average
in €/month
Household
purchasing
power, average
in €/month
Housing
cost ratio3)
in %
10405
951
11.00
(14)
6.33
(57)
16.05
(34)
76
(54)
1,007
(30)
2,951
(91)
34.1
(13)
10407
521
10.00
(26)
5.32
(151)
15.91
(46)
68
(112)
825
(65)
2,772
(118)
29.8
(27)
10409
416
9.25
(54)
5.35
(148)
15.91
(46)
57
(169)
653
(135)
2,197
(190)
29.7
(28)
10435
532
11.66
(6)
7.51
(2)
18.24
(5)
76
(56)
1,055
(24)
3,079
(69)
34.3
(12)
10437
1,050
10.70
(20)
7.00
(15)
17.11
(13)
70
(96)
906
(49)
2,701
(133)
33.5
(14)
10439
996
10.00
(26)
7.00
(15)
16.52
(24)
63
(139)
762
(82)
2,422
(184)
31.5
(19)
13086
665
8.49
(86)
6.11
(66)
12.19
(107)
69
(108)
732
(101)
2,546
(163)
28.7
(42)
13088
474
7.68
(118)
5.48
(140)
11.60
(115)
72
(83)
712
(108)
2,642
(144)
27.0
(74)
13089
51
7.13
(142)
5.50
(136)
12.38
(105)
66
(122)
612
(159)
3,202
(56)
19.1
(183)
13125
514
6.87
(161)
5.48
(140)
8.50
(180)
73
(77)
660
(132)
3,127
(64)
21.1
(169)
13127
400
7.23
(137)
5.65
(125)
10.00
(149)
76
(57)
717
(107)
3,235
(51)
22.2
(156)
13129
15
—
3,220
(53)
—
13156
591
8.02
(104)
6.30
(58)
11.01
(119)
75
(63)
764
(81)
3,103
(66)
24.6
(113)
13158
225
7.71
(116)
6.43
(51)
10.53
(134)
74
(71)
732
(100)
3,255
(48)
22.5
(149)
—
—
—
—
13159
7
—
2,915
(98)
—
13187
608
8.94
(74)
6.28
(59)
13.53
(83)
76
(59)
843
(60)
2,688
(134)
31.4
(21)
13189
467
8.38
(88)
6.05
(74)
13.32
(86)
62
(145)
653
(137)
2,360
(187)
27.7
(65)
District 1)
8,483
9.03
5.90
15.16
70
789
2,782
28.4
Berlin 1)
64,170
8.55
5.50
15.05
71
780
2,951
26.4
—
—
—
—
Housing cost ratio
of households in %
33.0 and over
30.0 –32.9
28.0 –29.9
26.0 –27.9
24.0 –25.9
22.0 –23.9
20.0 –21.9
up to 19.9
Insufficientnumberofcases
Reinickendorf: Interest in the south, relaxed
residential climate in the north
Rents are relatively moderate in this district in
the northwest of Berlin. This also applies to the
areas adjoining the city centre, some of which
have a dense mix of residential and commercial
properties and are badly affected by aircraft noise.
Nevertheless, asking rents rose relatively sharply
in just such areas in 2014 – for example around
Kurt-Schumacher-Damm (postcode 13405), Eichborndamm (13403) and Residenzstrasse (13409).
These areas are increasingly being looked at by
apartment hunters who have been unsuccessful
in the city centre but find the asking rents in Reinickendorf very favourable. In the areas mentioned
rents are still around €7 per square metre.
Asking rents are much lower in the large highrise estates in the northeast of the district: Märkisches Viertel West (13435) and East (13439) and
in Waidmannslust (13469), where they still average around €6. In all three areas, the household
purchasing power is well above average by Berlin
standards. However, this is also an effect of the
many single detached houses there. In relation to
average incomes, rental costs are particularly low
in these areas.
The peripheral areas in the north and west of the
district are a separate world. Frohnau (13465),
Hermsdorf (13467), Heiligensee (13503) and
Konradshöhe (13505) are situated well away from
the city centre in a landscape of forests and rivers,
and are mainly developed with detached houses.
Although their rental markets are extremely small,
rents are high by Reinickendorf standards: me-
Housing market data
Postcode
Number
of rental
offers
dian asking rents are up to €8.40. However, the
high purchasing power means that housing costs
constitute only a moderate proportion of incomes.
Frohnau has the second-highest household purchasing power in Berlin. Heiligensee, Konradshöhe and Hermsdorf are also in the topmost
decile of the city as a whole. However, even if the
households are able to pay more rent, out there
in the periphery they are not prepared to – their
willingness to pay is lower than the ability to pay.
Landlords take this into account: asking rents
have risen only slightly in the recent past.
Small apartments close to the airport
It almost goes without saying that these affluent
areas also have the largest apartments in the district. However, in the east of the Märkische Viertel
extremely roomy apartments, averaging 88 square
metres, are on offer. Often four-room apartments,
they were intended for larger families when they
were completed around 1970. At the other end
of the size scale in the district, the apartments
on offer are about a third smaller. This applies
to Borsigwalde, the area around Eichborndamm
and Residenzstrasse as well as Alt-Reinickendorf. Many of the apartments in these areas date
from the period between 1920 and 1965, when
inexpensive construction was a necessity. Their
smaller floor areas and modest asking rents result
in moderate total costs per apartment. The housing cost ratio is therefore also moderate, despite
the low average purchasing power.
Housing cost
Basic rent
in all market
segments 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
bottom market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
top market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Apartment size,
average in m2
Total housing
cost 2), average
in €/month
Household
purchasing
power, average
in €/month
Housing
cost ratio3)
in %
13403
414
7.02
(149)
5.77
(113)
10.61
(132)
63
(138)
617
(157)
2,520
(170)
24.5
13405
119
6.72
(169)
5.30
(153)
10.00
(149)
88
(24)
836
(64)
2,879
(101)
29.0
(40)
13407
487
6.83
(164)
5.82
(107)
10.46
(138)
60
(159)
580
(173)
2,427
(182)
23.9
(127)
13409
674
6.88
(159)
5.55
(131)
10.28
(143)
61
(150)
595
(170)
2,511
(172)
23.7
(131)
13435
71
6.06
(176)
5.25
(155)
10.34
(140)
77
(50)
682
(120)
3,024
(75)
22.5
(153)
13437
165
7.11
(144)
5.22
(157)
10.50
(135)
76
(53)
759
(87)
2,847
(109)
26.7
(80)
13439
133
5.85
(180)
5.05
(167)
8.39
(183)
88
(20)
766
(84)
2,977
(86)
25.7
(97)
13465
196
8.18
(96)
6.23
(63)
11.22
(118)
92
(12)
1,014
(29)
4,451
(2)
22.8
(144)
(116)
13467
197
7.95
(111)
6.00
(81)
13.13
(89)
85
(29)
918
(43)
4,036
(11)
22.8
(145)
13469
248
5.68
(184)
4.67
(183)
10.00
(149)
80
(43)
682
(119)
3,336
(42)
20.4
(172)
13503
110
8.32
(90)
6.93
(20)
11.67
(114)
88
(23)
976
(34)
4,241
(8)
23.0
(138)
13505
58
8.36
(89)
5.76
(114)
10.91
(126)
95
(10)
1,060
(23)
4,337
(5)
24.4
(117)
13507
374
8.00
(107)
6.03
(78)
10.25
(144)
74
(72)
799
(72)
3,081
(67)
25.9
(92)
13509
239
7.20
(138)
5.91
(101)
10.07
(147)
64
(126)
644
(145)
2,587
(153)
24.9
(110)
District 1)
3,485
7.08
5.31
10.50
72
709
3,092
22.9
Berlin 1)
64,170
8.55
5.50
15.05
71
780
2,951
26.4
Housing cost ratio
of households in %
33.0 and over
30.0 –32.9
28.0 –29.9
26.0 –27.9
24.0 –25.9
22.0 –23.9
20.0 –21.9
up to 19.9
Spandau: Increased demand on the
western edge of the city
The residents of Spandau like to think of themselves as living in their own town, autonomous
from Berlin. But the rental market demonstrates
that this is not true. The citywide shortage of supply is also affecting Spandau – to the extent that
asking rents there have risen by proportionally
more than the Berlin average. Apartment hunters
that have never before ventured west of the Havel
are now evidently also considering Spandau.
Landlords have reacted accordingly: asking rents
have risen by more than 9 per cent in Wilhelmstadt East (postcode 13595), Klosterfelde (13581)
and Neustadt (13585) – all close to the historic
centre and the ICE (high-speed train) station.
However, these areas have not yet become expensive: in all of them the median asking rents are
still less than €7 per square metre. Rental values
in Haselhorst (13599), Staaken (13591), the historic centre with Stresow (13597), Zeppelinstrasse
(13583) and Hakenfelde (13587) are similar, although with slightly lower growth.
Well-balanced rents and purchasing power
The only rents that are considerably cheaper than
this are in the two areas of Spandau that are dominated by high-rise blocks dating from the 1960s
and early 1970s: Falkenhagener Feld (13589) and
the Heerstrasse/Wilhelmstrasse area (13593).
Although the rents in Falkenhagener Feld have
risen by 11.5 per cent, and in Heerstrasse by 6.6
per cent, they are still well under €6 in both areas. Heerstrasse/Wilhelmstrasse actually has the
lowest rents in the city: €5.33. Although the average purchasing power in many parts of Spandau
Housing market data
Postcode
Number
of rental
offers
is very low, because of the continuing moderate
level of rents the housing cost ratio, i.e. the relationship between asking rents and purchasing
power, is almost without exception below the Berlin average. The figures in Heerstrasse/Wilhelmstrasse are also particularly favourable to tenants
in this respect.
There are two special cases among the Spandau postcodes. One of these is Siemensstadt
(13629). The most north-easterly part of the district, it adjoins Charlottenburg and Reinickendorf
and mainly consists of estates built between the
1920s and 1970s. Because of its relatively central
location in Berlin and good U-Bahn connections,
this area already had the second-highest asking
rents in the district in 2013. They have now increased again, albeit by only 3 per cent, and therefore less than in all other areas of Spandau.
Larger and more expensive on the periphery
The second case is peripherally-situated Gatow/
Kladow (14089), which has the seventh-highest
household purchasing power in Berlin. Due to the
small scale of development, its rental market is, by
a wide margin, the smallest in the district. However, it is the leader in another category: it has by
far the largest apartments, at the highest rents
per square metre. The high incomes of residents
mean that, even in Gatow and Kladow, the housing cost ratio is well below the city average. The
greatest shortcoming is its poor accessibility from
Berlin city centre. Traffic is often jammed on Heerstrasse, so that the journey time to or from the
centre can sometimes take an hour or more.
Housing cost
Basic rent
in all market
segments 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
bottom market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
top market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Apartment size,
average in m2
Total housing
cost 2), average
in €/month
Household
purchasing
power, average
in €/month
Housing
cost ratio3)
in %
13581
263
6.88
(159)
5.16
(163)
10.80
(128)
70
(100)
676
(124)
2,871
(102)
23.5
(133)
13583
353
6.77
(167)
5.36
(145)
8.85
(175)
66
(119)
633
(150)
2,542
(164)
24.9
(109)
13585
557
6.67
(171)
4.93
(172)
9.60
(166)
73
(80)
689
(115)
2,583
(154)
26.7
(79)
13587
367
6.75
(168)
5.50
(136)
9.00
(172)
72
(84)
691
(113)
2,667
(141)
25.9
(93)
13589
272
5.87
(178)
4.80
(177)
9.28
(169)
71
(94)
615
(158)
2,950
(92)
20.9
(170)
13591
290
6.92
(157)
5.04
(168)
8.96
(173)
73
(78)
709
(110)
3,277
(45)
21.6
(164)
13593
240
5.33
(187)
4.34
(186)
8.29
(185)
69
(103)
565
(175)
2,929
(94)
19.3
(182)
13595
438
6.91
(158)
5.03
(169)
10.00
(149)
72
(81)
705
(112)
2,843
(111)
24.8
(112)
13597
201
6.81
(165)
5.03
(169)
10.00
(149)
76
(55)
736
(99)
2,849
(106)
25.8
(94)
13599
205
6.99
(152)
6.05
(74)
9.70
(165)
66
(117)
651
(138)
2,728
(128)
23.9
(128)
13629
188
7.11
(145)
5.60
(127)
12.00
(109)
67
(114)
665
(131)
2,728
(127)
24.4
(118)
14089
98
8.05
(99)
6.00
(81)
12.80
(96)
90
(15)
980
(33)
4,329
(7)
22.6
(147)
District 1)
3,472
6.75
4.87
9.76
71
683
2,939
23.2
Berlin 1)
64,170
8.55
5.50
15.05
71
780
2,951
26.4
Housing cost ratio
of households in %
33.0 and over
30.0 –32.9
28.0 –29.9
26.0 –27.9
24.0 –25.9
22.0 –23.9
20.0 –21.9
up to 19.9
Steglitz-Zehlendorf: Exclusive residential area
in demand; moderate rent growth
Steglitz-Zehlendorf, in southwest Berlin, is dominated by wide expanses of villas and detached
houses, particularly in the western subdistrict
of Zehlendorf. It has attractive landscapes with
forest, lakes and rivers. Steglitz is more central
and parts of it are urban, particularly around the
Schlossstrasse shopping street. The district has
the highest household purchasing power in the
city, although not all its areas are wealthy. There
is more of a west-east differential between Zehlendorf and Steglitz. An example of the two extremes: in Dahlem (postcode 14195), Berlin’s
most affluent subdistrict, the average purchasing
power, rental value and size of apartments on offer is more than 50 per cent higher than in Lankwitz South (12249), with its very modest inter-war
and post-war apartment buildings.
Overall, despite its wealthy areas, in terms of average rental value the district only ranks fifth in
the city. There are three reasons for this: firstly its
peripheral location, secondly the predominantly
less urbane surroundings; and thirdly, the fact
that a good proportion of very wealthy people
own their apartments or houses rather than rent
them. This is particularly evident in the topmost
segment, the most expensive decile of the apartments on offer. In this respect Steglitz-Zehlendorf
is only in seventh place in the whole city, with a
median rental value well below the average for
Berlin. In the topmost segment of the market the
dominance of owner-occupied properties considerably weakens the letting market.
Only Dahlem above the €10 threshold
The highest median asking rents in the district, by a wide margin, are in Dahlem, where the
€11.11 per square metre ranks 12th in Berlin as a
whole. In the topmost segment, the villa quarter
ranks much lower: the most expensive decile of
apartments are on offer for an average of €15.18,
putting this area in 60th place in the city. It is followed, by a wide margin, by the subdistrict of
Wannsee (14109), in the extreme southwest tip of
Berlin, with forests, rivers and lakes. The median
rent for the whole market there is around €9.44.
Close thereafter comes Zehlendorf Southeast
(14167) and the area around southern Clayallee (14169). Steglitz’s highest ranking area in the
district (fifth place) is around Schildhornstrasse
(12163) – parts of which are attractive, although
some are badly affected by traffic. It also includes
parts of Schlossstrasse. There are two more areas
of Zehlendorf that have median rents on the €9
threshold: Nikolassee/Schlachtensee (14129) and
Central Zehlendorf (14163).
They are followed by two of the most popular areas in Steglitz: Lichterfelde West (12205), with
its sometimes picturesque cottages, and Fichtenberg (12165) which includes many green areas
near the Botanical Gardens and attractive hillsides. It is also close to Schlossstrasse. Unter den
Eichen (12203) is very central, while Zehlendorf
Southwest (14165) is right on the city boundary.
All the remaining areas, in the east of the subdistrict of Steglitz, have median asking rents between €7.24 and 8.22 per square metre.
Lower rental growth in Steglitz
Rental growth in Steglitz-Zehlendorf was the
slowest of all the districts of Berlin in 2014. It
was still relatively dynamic in the northeast of
the district around Schildhornstrasse, in the villa
quarter of Dahlem, and in Lankwitz North (12247),
Lichterfelde Southeast (12209), and Central Zehlendorf. People seeking an apartment in SteglitzZehlendorf apparently prefer the spacious areas
on the edge of the city to the more densely-developed parts of the district. This is confirmed by
looking at the other end of the table: the weakest
rental growth is in the Albrechtstrasse and Bergstrasse (12169), and Lichterfelde West (12205)
areas of Steglitz.
There are also considerable differences in the
sizes of the apartments being offered. They are
most luxurious in Dahlem, Wannsee and Nikolassee/Schlachtensee. In these areas, whole floors of
generously-sized villas are also on offer, increasing the average size of apartments. The next areas
in the ranking – Lichterfelde West, Central Zehlendorf, and Zehlendorf-Southeast – also have spacious apartments around 20 square metres larger
than those in the eastern apartment-block areas
of Lankwitz North and South, Stadtpark (12167),
Albrechtstrasse and Bergstrasse. When a large
apartment is combined with a high rent per square
metre, there is naturally a particular effect on the
total rent payable for an apartment being offered.
Apartments in Dahlem are therefore more than
twice as expensive as those in Lankwitz South.
High housing costs in the villa areas
The housing cost ratio, i.e. the relationship between asking rents and purchasing power, shows
a very different picture. Of the four areas with the
highest figures, two (Schildhornstrasse and Ostpreussendamm) have average purchasing power,
while two have higher incomes (Fichtenberg und
Dahlem). The ratio is at its lowest in two areas
where there are both detached houses and estates from the social housing era: Lichterfelde
Southeast and Lankwitz South. Overall, SteglitzZehlendorf also upholds the rule that people with
high purchasing power spend a particularly large
proportion of their budget on housing.
Housing market data
Postcode
Number
of rental
offers
Housing cost
Basic rent
in all market
segments 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
bottom market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
top market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Apartment size,
average in m2
Total housing
cost 2), average
in €/month
Household
purchasing
power, average
in €/month
Housing
cost ratio3)
in %
12163
382
9.03
(62)
6.48
(47)
14.17
(75)
74
(73)
875
(55)
2,956
(90)
29.6
(31)
12165
97
8.67
(80)
6.60
(38)
15.95
(45)
85
(28)
980
(32)
3,420
(34)
28.7
(44)
12167
414
8.22
(95)
6.16
(65)
12.80
(96)
73
(76)
806
(69)
2,863
(103)
28.1
(54)
12169
212
8.01
(106)
5.93
(96)
12.00
(109)
70
(98)
759
(86)
2,789
(115)
27.2
(72)
12203
446
8.50
(83)
5.78
(112)
12.73
(100)
77
(48)
876
(53)
3,313
(43)
26.4
(83)
12205
272
8.79
(77)
5.93
(96)
12.61
(102)
94
(11)
1,089
(20)
4,006
(12)
27.2
(71)
12207
345
8.00
(107)
5.57
(129)
10.98
(124)
87
(25)
940
(39)
3,184
(59)
29.5
(32)
12209
175
7.90
(113)
5.95
(92)
11.00
(121)
85
(27)
915
(46)
3,785
(20)
24.2
(120)
12247
328
8.00
(107)
6.19
(64)
10.83
(127)
72
(86)
778
(76)
3,080
(68)
25.3
(103)
12249
270
7.24
(135)
5.17
(161)
10.58
(133)
68
(113)
681
(118)
2,936
(93)
23.2
(136)
14109
235
9.44
(49)
6.48
(47)
13.08
(90)
97
(7)
1,189
(10)
4,335
(6)
27.4
(69)
14129
203
9.00
(63)
6.94
(19)
12.78
(98)
95
(9)
1,127
(13)
4,388
(4)
25.7
(96)
14163
231
9.00
(63)
6.25
(60)
12.94
(93)
89
(17)
1,049
(26)
4,229
(9)
24.8
(111)
14165
298
8.50
(83)
5.80
(109)
12.14
(108)
80
(41)
912
(48)
3,248
(49)
28.1
(56)
14167
354
9.40
(51)
6.40
(55)
13.45
(84)
89
(18)
1,083
(21)
4,100
(10)
26.4
(82)
14169
294
9.10
(58)
6.90
(22)
12.00
(109)
86
(26)
1,023
(28)
3,571
(27)
28.6
(45)
14195
344
11.11
(12)
7.30
(10)
15.18
(60)
105
(1)
1,464
(2)
5,228
(1)
28.0
(57)
District1)
4,900
8.58
6.11
13.00
83
949
3,511
27.0
Berlin 1)
64,170
8.55
5.50
15.05
71
780
2,951
26.4
Housing cost ratio
of households in %
33.0 and over
30.0 –32.9
28.0 –29.9
26.0 –27.9
24.0 –25.9
22.0 –23.9
20.0 –21.9
up to 19.9
Tempelhof-Schöneberg: Highest rental growth in the
lower-priced areas of the district
The median asking rent per square metre is
higher in inner-city Schöneberg than in suburban Tempelhof. However, the strongest rental
growth is in the areas with the lowest rents, which
are predominantly in Tempelhof. In contrast, the
market in Schöneberg is relatively quiet. Following strong growth in recent years, some asking
rents have actually fallen. This applies to the areas around Bayerischer Platz (postcode 10779),
Bülowbogen (10783) and Rathaus (city hall)
Schöneberg (10825). Growth was only moderate
in the area with the highest rental value in the
district, the middle-class neighbourhoods around
Viktoria-Luise-Platz (10777) in the western city
centre of Berlin. The rents being asked are apparently reaching the limits of tenants’ willingness
to pay. There was distinct growth in Friedenau on
the southern fringes of Schöneberg, with its three
areas outside the S-Bahn ring – around FriedrichWilhelm-Platz (12161), Breslauer Platz (12159)
and Grazer Damm (12157) – and around Crellestrasse (10827) and Schöneberger Insel (10829)
in the eastern parts of Schöneberg.
Housing market data
Postcode
Number
of rental
offers
Schöneberg more expensive than Tempelhof
Things are very different in Tempelhof: Marienfelde West (12279) on the southern edge of
the city is still among the areas with the lowest
asking rents in the district, although it has the
strongest rental growth. The neighbouring
areas of Alt-Marienfelde (12277), Alt-Mariendorf
(12107), and Mariendorf West (12105) share this
combination of relatively low rental values and
very strong growth.
However, asking rents in Tempelhof are not likely
to approach the levels in Schöneberg anytime
in the foreseeable future, as the differences are
simply still too great. The median rent in the
cheapest area of Schöneberg, around Grazer
Damm, is €0.56 per square metre higher than
even the most expensive part of Tempelhof, Tempelhof North (12101), southwest of the former
Tempelhof airport. The lowest rents are in the
peripheral parts of the district. As well as Marienfelde West, asking rents in Lichtenrade Southeast (12309) are still below the €7 per square
metre mark.
Housing cost
Basic rent
in all market
segments 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
bottom market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
top market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Apartment size,
average in m2
Total housing
cost 2), average
in €/month
Household
purchasing
power, average
in €/month
Housing
cost ratio3)
in %
10777
402
10.37
(24)
7.14
(12)
16.63
(20)
91
(14)
1,198
(9)
3,358
(39)
35.7
(9)
10779
170
9.04
(61)
6.70
(33)
14.47
(70)
72
(82)
858
(58)
2,985
(84)
28.7
(43)
10781
254
10.00
(26)
7.32
(9)
15.38
(52)
71
(90)
914
(47)
2,889
(100)
31.6
(18)
10783
182
8.76
(78)
5.65
(122)
16.00
(36)
58
(165)
673
(125)
2,991
(83)
22.5
(150)
10823
117
10.00
(26)
7.18
(11)
16.07
(33)
63
(137)
805
(68)
2,816
(113)
28.6
(47)
10825
210
9.50
(45)
6.64
(37)
14.00
(76)
74
(67)
916
(44)
2,992
(81)
30.6
(24)
10827
285
9.51
(44)
6.42
(53)
16.00
(36)
61
(153)
752
(90)
2,966
(87)
25.4
(100)
10829
266
9.61
(41)
6.45
(50)
16.59
(22)
61
(157)
753
(89)
2,581
(155)
29.2
(37)
12099
275
7.80
(115)
5.55
(131)
12.86
(95)
63
(134)
671
(127)
2,575
(158)
26.1
(91)
12101
163
8.04
(100)
6.00
(81)
16.25
(29)
60
(160)
647
(143)
3,015
(76)
21.5
(166)
12103
277
8.03
(102)
6.47
(49)
13.64
(82)
62
(142)
676
(122)
2,638
(146)
25.6
(99)
12105
276
7.50
(124)
5.65
(122)
10.97
(125)
71
(91)
733
(102)
2,658
(143)
27.6
(66)
12107
198
7.50
(124)
5.94
(94)
10.12
(146)
71
(89)
737
(98)
3,218
(55)
22.9
(143)
12109
197
7.49
(129)
5.67
(120)
10.72
(130)
75
(61)
778
(77)
2,799
(114)
27.8
(64)
12157
286
8.60
(82)
6.49
(44)
13.17
(88)
70
(102)
794
(73)
2,850
(105)
27.9
(61)
12159
209
9.00
(63)
6.25
(60)
14.65
(68)
81
(40)
954
(35)
3,223
(52)
29.6
(30)
12161
396
9.50
(45)
6.41
(54)
14.38
(72)
77
(49)
949
(36)
3,257
(47)
29.1
(38)
12277
134
7.13
(142)
5.35
(148)
10.00
(149)
80
(42)
801
(71)
3,354
(40)
23.9
(125)
12279
228
6.98
(153)
5.65
(122)
8.81
(176)
74
(74)
724
(106)
2,992
(82)
24.2
(121)
12305
193
7.41
(131)
5.73
(116)
10.00
(149)
74
(66)
761
(85)
3,502
(31)
21.7
(163)
12307
116
7.57
(121)
6.00
(81)
12.00
(109)
81
(37)
845
(61)
3,825
(18)
22.1
(159)
12309
230
6.68
(170)
4.67
(183)
9.17
(171)
77
(51)
729
(105)
3,387
(37)
21.5
(165)
District1)
5,064
8.47
5.87
14.49
72
810
3,039
26.7
Berlin 1)
64,170
8.55
5.50
15.05
71
780
2,951
26.4
Housing cost ratio
of households in %
33.0 and over
30.0 –32.9
28.0 –29.9
26.0 –27.9
24.0 –25.9
22.0 –23.9
20.0 –21.9
up to 19.9
Treptow-Köpenick: Mixed picture with rental growth
on the edge of the city
Treptow-Köpenick is located in the extreme
southwest of Berlin. In terms of area, it is the largest district in the city and has the most forest,
lakes, and rivers. It has a wide range of residential areas: suburban district centres, industrial
and former working-class areas, inter-war and
post-war estates, and areas of villas and detached
houses. The rental market in the district is particularly heterogeneous: there is no systematic differential between the areas closest to Berlin city
centre and those in the periphery, or between the
district centres and the extensive owner-occupied
estates. Instead, Treptow-Köpenick is characterised by a close and colourful mixture of upmarket,
mid-range and somewhat more modest locations.
There are no market extremes with very high or
particularly low asking rents.
Only a small part of the city centre
The highest rents in the district, €8.75 per square
metre, are being asked in the area around Treptower Park (postcode 12435) – the only area of the
district that extends inside the S-Bahn ring and
which directly adjoins Kreuzberg and Neukölln. In
second place is a very different type of area and
location: Rahnsdorf (12589), the widespread area
on the edge of the city, dominated by detached
houses, where there is only a small rental market. There is an even smaller market in Bohnsdorf
(12526), which is in third place. It is close to the
future major airport but will be almost completely
away from the flight paths. These will affect
Grünau (12527), with its attractive waterside locations on the banks of the river Dahme, it ranks in
fourth place in terms of average advertised rents
in the district.
The median asking rent in Köpenick (12555),
which has a range of ages and qualities of buildings around the island location of its historic centre, is less than €8. The artists’ quarter in Friedrichshagen (12587), with its Bölschestrasse
“cultural boulevard” and an attractive location
between forests and Lake Müggelsee, is almost
in a world of its own. The next areas in the rental
league table are Baumschulenweg (12437), a
Wilheminian quarter close to the city centre, and
Müggelheim (12559), in an isolated forest situation in the extreme southeast of Berlin.
Former industrial areas bring up the rear
The median asking rents are below €7.30 in
Adlershof (12489), a mixed suburban area that is
partly dominated by a new science park, Altglienicke (12524) and Johannisthal (12487). Exactly
straddling the €7 mark is Wendenschloss (12557),
in a very attractive location between the Müggelbergen and the Dahme but well away from the
inner city. Sharing last place, with asking rents
under €7, are Niederschöneweide (12439) and
Oberschöneweide (12459). Both are former major
industrial areas that are today badly affected by
through traffic.
There are somewhat clearer rental growth trends
in the district. Recently, growth has been slower
in the western parts of the district, such as Treptower Park, close to the city centre, as well as
Adlershof and Johannisthal, despite the science park and proximity to the new major airport.
Niederschöneweide and Baumschulenweg are exceptions from the generally weak trend in Treptow.
Rents on the southern and south-eastern edge
of Berlin, in areas such as Bohnsdorf, Müggelheim, Rahnsdorf, and Grünau, are growing more
quickly than in the Treptow areas. However, there
are relatively few properties to let in Bohnsdorf
and Rahnsdorf, so that even a moderate increase
in demand can heavily influence the local market.
A possible reason for this growth is that, unlike in
previous years, there have been fewer negative
commentaries about the flight paths around the
major Berlin airport.
These areas are also stand out because, together
with Altglienicke, they have the highest average
household purchasing power in the district. In addition, the apartments on offer in Grünau, Bohnsdorf, and Rahnsdorf are relatively large. These
sizes, together with the increased asking rents,
lead to these three areas having, by a wide margin, the highest absolute housing costs in Treptow-Köpenick. Despite its rather smaller apartments, Baumschulenweg, which has the lowest
purchasing power in the district, has a housing
cost ratio that is only just below the Berlin average. Although household incomes there have noticeably increased in the last year, the area is in
next-to-last position of all the Berlin postcodes.
Köpenick valued by tenants
The apartments on offer around Treptower Park
are among the smallest in the district. This restricts the total rent payable for such units, so
that the relatively high rent per square metre is
affordable despite the low average household
purchasing power. The small rise in asking rents
indicates that there is not much more headroom
for landlords. The housing cost ratio in Köpenick,
in the centre of the district, is conspicuously high.
This area has a combination of medium rental
values, very large apartments, and only moderate purchasing power. However, residents put a
higher value on living in this area than elsewhere
because of its good local amenities, including
two S-Bahn lines, many areas of forest, rivers and
lakes, and an attractive “island” historic centre.
Housing market data
Postcode
Number
of rental
offers
Housing cost
Basic rent
in all market
segments 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
bottom market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Basic rent in
top market
segment 1) in
€/m2/month
Apartment size,
average in m2
Total housing
cost 2), average
in €/month
Household
purchasing
power, average
in €/month
Housing
cost ratio3)
in %
12435
247
8.75
(79)
5.81
(108)
15.20
(57)
62
(146)
675
(121)
2,541
(165)
26.6
(77)
12437
326
7.50
(124)
5.74
(115)
13.04
(91)
61
(154)
590
(171)
2,305
(189)
25.6
(98)
12439
237
6.87
(161)
5.31
(152)
10.00
(149)
69
(105)
624
(154)
2,472
(176)
25.2
(101)
12459
642
6.60
(172)
5.38
(143)
10.02
(148)
63
(135)
554
(177)
2,422
(183)
22.9
(140)
12487
249
7.07
(146)
5.60
(127)
10.50
(135)
68
(109)
632
(149)
2,530
(166)
25.0
(106)
12489
466
7.25
(134)
5.51
(135)
10.00
(149)
69
(107)
648
(139)
2,486
(175)
26.1
(88)
12524
326
7.24
(135)
6.02
(79)
9.82
(163)
71
(88)
673
(123)
3,339
(41)
20.2
(174)
12526
77
8.50
(83)
5.24
(156)
10.35
(139)
83
(32)
890
(51)
3,192
(58)
27.9
(58)
12527
163
8.02
(104)
5.88
(104)
11.01
(119)
88
(21)
901
(50)
3,307
(44)
27.3
(70)
12555
675
7.81
(114)
5.90
(103)
11.49
(116)
74
(68)
742
(93)
2,634
(147)
28.2
(53)
12557
402
7.00
(150)
5.10
(164)
11.00
(121)
74
(70)
680
(117)
2,849
(107)
23.9
(124)
12559
205
7.47
(130)
5.50
(136)
9.29
(168)
69
(104)
665
(129)
2,981
(85)
22.3
(154)
12587
310
7.52
(123)
6.00
(81)
11.00
(121)
75
(62)
728
(103)
2,787
(117)
26.1
(87)
12589
88
8.66
(81)
6.10
(67)
15.38
(52)
82
(36)
884
(52)
3,668
(22)
24.1
(119)
District 1)
4,413
7.40
5.50
11.11
70
672
2,757
24.4
Berlin 1)
64,170
8.55
5.50
15.05
71
780
2,951
26.4
Housing cost ratio
of households in %
33.0 and over
30.0 –32.9
28.0 –29.9
26.0 –27.9
24.0 –25.9
22.0 –23.9
20.0 –21.9
up to 19.9
Rental value map: Berlin’s price levels and location
profiles at a glance
Red and purple colours on the map indicate high
asking rents per square metre while yellow and
especially grey colours indicate lower rents. The
red and purple zones are steadily expanding:
there are now 15 areas in which average asking
rents are at least €11 per square metre.
Right at the top are the peak locations in the city
centre [A], with rents above €12. There are also
very high prices in the trendy areas of Kreuzberg
and Neukölln, where there is a lively street scene,
predominantly small apartments and a very cosmopolitan population [B].
The new middle-class areas in Prenzlauer Berg
and around Potsdamer Platz [C] are in the same
category. Characterised by dilapidation and derelict sites only 25 years ago, they have undergone
the most rapid development anywhere in the
city. The top price category also includes the best
“villa” regions in the southwest of Berlin [D], although most of their wealthy residents tend to be
owner-occupiers.
Many of Berlin’s prime locations have already undergone a sharp growth in asking rents, Apartment hunters are increasingly shifting their
sights to adjoining, somewhat cheaper areas.
Alternatively, they are discovering locations on
the edge of the city centre that feature charming
older buildings and good connections to the centre, while still having plenty of “green” areas [E].
On the city outskirts are residential areas [F] set
amid attractive forests, rivers, and lakes. There,
apartment buildings are mostly in smaller complexes, scattered between estates featuring detached houses. Despite the high purchasing
power enjoyed by many of their residents, they
have only limited potential for rental growth: low
rents are one of the reasons that the tenants decided to move out there.
Most of the subdistricts in the middle of the colour range are very heterogeneous. A specific feature of these are the district centres [G], which
still have areas marked by traditional small-town
charm. But those looking for peace and quiet are
unlikely to find it in these centres, which are often
badly affected by traffic. A few modest areas just
outside the densely-developed city centre [H] are
somewhat cheaper. People there often live in unrenovated imperial era buildings, or small interwar and post-war era apartments.
Examples of locations and rent levels
[A] City Area
District
Basic rent1)
[B] Sought-after trendy areas
10117
Unter den Linden
Mitte
12.92
10999
Görlitzer Park
10119
Rosenthaler Platz
Mitte
12.50
10965
Mehringdamm
11.11
10178
Hackescher Markt
Mitte
12.50
12047
Maybachufer
Neukölln
10.34
[C] Middle-class urban areas
12.00
[D] Exclusive residential areas
10435
Kollwitzplatz
Pankow
11.57
14195
Dahlem
Steglitz-Zehlendorf
11.15
10707
Olivaer Platz
Charlottenburg-Wilmersd.
11.46
14193
Grunewald
10.50
10785
Potsdamer Platz
Mitte
11.25
14109
Wannsee
Steglitz-Zehlendorf
9.56
8.50
[E] Upscale areas bordering on city centre
[F] Middle-class periphery
14057
Lietzensee
10.00
12589
Rahnsdorf
Treptow-Köpenick
12161
Friedrich-Wilhelm-Platz
9.64
13503
Heiligensee
Reinickendorf
8.41
10709
Hochmeisterplatz
9.49
14089
Gatow/Kladow
Spandau
8.14
[G] Outlying district centres
[H] Good value close to city centre
13507
Alt-Tegel
Reinickendorf
7.97
13627
Charlottenburg North
7.40
12555
Köpenick
Treptow-Köpenick
7.75
13409
Residenzstrasse
Reinickendorf
6.75
13597
Altstadt/Stresow
Spandau
6.84
12057
Sonnenallee South
Neukölln
6.47
1) median rent excl. utilities, all market segments in €/m /month
2
Berlin’s exceptional residential areas
The biggest apartments
The smallest apartments
Postcode
District
14195
Steglitz-Zehlendorf
Dahlem
14193
Grunewald
Area
Apartment
size1) in m2
Postcode
District
Area
105
12043
Neukölln
Neukölln City Hall
49
105
12045
Neukölln
Sonnenallee North
50
Apartment
size1) in m2
10719
Ludwigkirchplatz
103
12049
Neukölln
Hermannstr. West
51
10629
Sybelstrasse
102
12051
Neukölln
Hermannstr. South
52
10117
Mitte
Unter den Linden
99
12047
Neukölln
Maybachufer
52
1) average of offers
Source: CBRE based on data from empirica-systeme
The highest asking rents (net, excl. utilities)
The lowest asking rents (net, excl. utilities)
Postcode
District
Area
12.90
13593
Spandau
Heerstr./Wilhelmstr.
12.50
12687
Marzahn-Hellersdorf
Mehrower Allee
5.50
12.50
12679
Marzahn-Hellersdorf
R.-Wallenberg-Str.
5.51
13469
Reinickendorf
Waidmannslust
5.68
12689
Marzahn-Hellersdorf
Ahrensfelde
5.71
Postcode
District
Area
10117
Mitte
Unter den Linden
10119
Mitte
Rosenthaler Platz
10178
Mitte
Hackescher Markt
10627
Western Kantstrasse
11.79
10999
Görlitzer Park
11.71
Basic rent1) in
€/m²/month
1) median of offers
The biggest rent decreases
Area
Postcode
District
Area
36.3
10367
Lichtenberg
Stadtpark
24.3
10779
Bayerischer Platz
–5.7
10967
Graefestrasse
–4.5
10623
Savignyplatz
–4.3
10178
Mitte
Hackescher Markt
–3.8
Change from
2013 in %
Postcode
District
10969
Prinzenstrasse
10627
Western Kantstrasse
13357
Mitte
Gesundbrunnen
21.3
10559
Mitte
Stephanstrasse
18.8
12683
Marzahn-Hellersdorf
Biesdorf
18.5
1)
1) Rent excl. utilities, only when more than 100 cases in both years
The highest purchasing power
The lowest purchasing power
District
14195
Steglitz-Zehlendorf
13465
Reinickendorf
5.33
The biggest rent increases
Postcode
Basic rent1) in
€/m²/month
Change1) from
2013 in %
–10.0
Purchasing
power1) in €
Postcode
District
Area
Dahlem
5,228
10409
Pankow
Ostseestrasse
2,197
Frohnau
4,451
12437
Treptow-Köpenick
Baumschulenweg
2,305
Area
Purchasing
power1) in €
14193
Grunewald
4,411
10319
Lichtenberg
Friedrichsfelde South
2,358
14129
Steglitz-Zehlendorf
Nikolassee/Schlach.
4,388
13189
Pankow
Neumannstrasse
2,360
13505
Reinickendorf
Konradshöhe
4,337
13349
Mitte
Schillerpark
2,360
1) per household and month
Source: Michael Bauer Research; compiled by CBRE
The highest housing cost ratio
The lowest housing cost ratio
Housing cost
ratio1) in %
Postcode
District
Area
Hackescher Markt
44.1
13051
Lichtenberg
Malchow
18.1
Unter den Linden
39.3
12681
Marzahn-Hellersdorf
Bitterfelder Strasse
19.0
Olivaer Platz
37.8
12687
Marzahn-Hellersdorf
Mehrower Allee
19.0
10179
Mitte
Jannowitzbrücke
37.3
12679
Marzahn-Hellersdorf
R.-Wallenberg-Str.
19.0
10629
Sybelstrasse
37.0
13089
Pankow
Heinersdorf
19.1
Postcode
District
Area
10178
Mitte
10117
Mitte
10707
1) average asking rent (incl. utilities) in relation to household purchasing power
Housing cost
ratio1) in %
Source: CBRE
Housing Market Report | 2015 | Berlin
Basic rent for apartments
in apartment buildings
in €/m2/month
12.00 and over
11.00 – 11.99
10.00 – 10.99
9.00 – 9.99
8.00 – 8.99
7.00 – 7.99
6.00 – 6.99
up to 5.99
© Kartografie: Nexiga, 2006 – 2014 Tom Tom
Insufficient number of cases
Berlin rent prices 2014
8
9
7
5
4
2
1
10
3
11
6
12
1
2
3
Lichtenberg
4
Marzahn-Hellersdorf
5
Mitte
6
Neukölln
7
Pankow
8
Reinickendorf
9
Spandau
10 Steglitz-Zehlendorf
11 Tempelhof-Schöneberg
12 Treptow-Köpenick
Masthead
11th edition
Publisher:
CBRE GmbH
Hausvogteiplatz 10, 10117 Berlin
Tel. +49 (0)30 7261540
Fax +49 (0)30 726154100
Berlin Hyp AG
Budapester Strasse 1, 10787 Berlin
Tel. +49 (0)30 259990
Fax +49 (0)30 25999131
Market data:
Dr. Henrik Baumunk, Kristina Rüther, Michael Schlatterer MRICS
Residential Valuation, CBRE GmbH
Editor:
Roland Stimpel
Graphics/Layout:
Storkan Informationsdesign
Project management:
Kristina Rüther, CBRE GmbH
Nicole Hanke, Berlin Hyp AG
Responsible under German press law:
Dr. Henrik Baumunk, CBRE GmbH
Gero Bergmann, Berlin Hyp AG
The Housing Market Report is available for download on:
www.berlinhyp.de
www.cbre.de
Photos:
Storkan Informationsdesign
Disclaimer Berlin Hyp AG /CBRE GmbH
Information herein has been obtained from sources which are accessible to the public, (or, in certain cases, in exchange for
a fee) and believed reliable. While we do not doubt its accuracy, we have not verified each piece of information and cannot
make any guarantees about it, barring willful intent and gross negligence. It is your responsibility to independently confirm
its accuracy and completeness.
The information contained in this market report may not be used, reproduced or published without prior written
permission of Berlin Hyp AG and CBRE GmbH.

Berlin 2015 - Berlin Hyp

Transcription

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