Since the new year, asking rents have risen by more than 7 percent across Germany. Both existing properties and new builds are affected, and Berlin and Stuttgart have seen the most extreme jumps.

German rental market increasingly unaffordable

According to new data from the real estate platform Immoscout24, rent increases in Germany in the first months of 2023 are already breaking records. Between January and March 2023, the cost of renting existing flats in Germany rose by between 7,4 and 7,7 percent.

Compared to asking rents from the same period last year, the figures have increased by up to 12 percent for existing properties and by up to 20 percent for new build housing.

Berlin and Stuttgart see extreme rent increases in 2023

So far, people living in German cities have been worst affected by rising rents, which are now becoming unaffordable for people on both low and middle-income wages. Speaking to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), the managing director of Immoscout24, Gesa Crockford, said, “Berlin and Stuttgart are recording extreme increases of around 8 and 9 percent for new rental flats within the first quarter."

While all of Germany's cities are rapidly becoming unaffordable for many people, the trend is even more noticeably dramatic in Berlin and in Germany's most expensive city, Munich. Since the new year, asking rents for existing flats in Berlin have reached a record high of 12,56 euros per square metre, compared to 18,44 euros in the capital of Bavaria. The nationwide average currently lies at 8,01 euros per square metre.

Rising construction costs mean the German government is currently reluctant to build enough housing to meet growing demand, but tenants moving into newly-constructed houses are paying even more than their neighbours in existing accommodation. For new builds, the nationwide average rent lies at 11,01 euros per square metre.

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