House and apartment prices in Germany continued their downward trend in the first quarter of 2024.

The Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden announced that residential property prices fell in the first quarter of this year by an average of 51.7TP3T year-on-year and by 1.1% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.

<This is the sixth consecutive quarter in which prices fell in both cities and rural areas, according to preliminary figures. The largest annual declines of 91.5TP3T were recorded in detached and semi-detached homes in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Düsseldorf.

The largest annual declines of 91.5TP3T were recorded in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Düsseldorf. apartment prices in these cities fell by 41.6TP3T on average over one year. In sparsely populated rural areas, prices fell by an average of 61.7TP3T for detached and semi-detached houses and 21.4TP3T for apartments compared to the first quarter of 2023. <Since mid-2022 - which was the peak of a long housing boom - Germany's real estate market has been in decline. This is mainly due to the sharp rise in interest rates, which in turn increased the cost of loans.

Many people can no longer afford to buy homes, and investments are no longer profitable for large investors.

At the same time <Meanwhile, demand for housing remains high, especially in cities, while new construction is stagnating due to rising interest rates and construction costs. <As a result, the number of building permits for new buildings and apartment transfers in April fell by 17% year-on-year. In light of the housing shortage, construction and real estate associations are calling for more government subsidies, especially in urban areas.