If not now then when? The cost of home ownership has recently fallen, even in major cities. Here you will find out everything you need to know about buying a house.
Maybe the real estate industry can live better with noise. After all, that’s part of the business of construction. In any case, the major standstill last year really threw the market off course. “The buyers fell into a state of shock,” says real estate economist Michael Voigtländer from the German Economic Institute (IW). The reason for this: The central banks had increased interest rates more quickly than at any time since the 1980s. As a result, the entire market stalled: buyers stopped buying, developers built almost nothing, and construction finance companies and real estate agents barely recorded any business. The market came to a standstill.
By the fall, many property seekers were hoping that the rise in interest rates would make up for the enormous sums that were being demanded. During the year-long boom, prices had sometimes doubled and tripled. But things turned out differently: the prices for houses and apartments actually fell by just under three percent in 2023, the IW found. Since the peak in mid-2022, the overall market has fallen by around ten percent. It wasn’t that much.
Anyone who would like to buy a house or apartment is now faced with many questions. After a few years in which hardly anything happened, there is movement again, which means there is a lack of orientation. The star answers the most important questions.
Source: Stern
