The “Silver Tsunami”: Is the real estate market at risk of a wave of sales?

Frankfurt, Paris. It's a warning that makes people sit up and take notice: millions of houses will soon hit the real estate market. Since the baby boomers are getting older and older, will eventually need care or die, their real estate would become available in the future and create a market glut, including a fall in prices. Several studies have recently drawn up this scenario for countries such as Germany and France.

The experts speak boldly of a “silver tsunami,” a wave of sales driven by demographics. The term plays on the term “silver” because the majority of the silver-locked generation live in home ownership, and Tsunami because the sales would trigger a similar shockwave.

So is Germany facing a wave of sales? And what does that mean for the real estate market? The Handelsblatt provides an overview of the most important facts, reveals the assessments of experts and names the regions that could be particularly affected.