Dusseldorf. The housing shortage in Germany is great, real estate prices are rising, and experts are warning about the consequences of rising interest rates. At the same time, since the Berlin Left's recent election victory, a debate has been raging about the expropriation of large housing companies. The party wants to take action against the high rents in the capital.
The new real estate and rental price index for the third quarter from Empirica Regio, which is available exclusively to the Handelsblatt in advance, shows that rents continue to rise. Rents for new buildings increased by an average of 3.8 percent compared to the same quarter last year. For existing apartments the increase was even 10.2 percent.
But the purchase prices of new and existing properties have also risen according to the index. However, there are strong regional differences. The following seven graphics show the current situation on the real estate and rental market for all 400 districts in Germany.
The data comes from Value AG and is based on advertisements from more than 100 real estate platforms such as Immoscout24, Immowelt and Immonet. In this respect, they reflect the asking prices and rents.
In order to make the data comparable, Empirica Regio converted the different properties on offer into reference apartments. For condominiums, an apartment with 60 to 80 square meters and good furnishings is considered a comparable value.
The highest prices are therefore in the greater area around Bavaria's capital Munich. However, the city of Garmisch-Partenkirchen was pushed out of first place as the most expensive region. The following graphic shows the German districts with the highest prices for new apartments. All cities and districts in southern Bavaria are bolded.
Overall, the eight most expensive districts are all in southern Bavaria. Starnberg recorded the strongest increase (plus 7.8 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year). This increase in prices is primarily due to the last quarter: Compared to the second quarter of 2026, the average new building prices there rose by 5.3 percent.
The map shows that in rural regions, especially in eastern Germany, the level is lower than in metropolitan areas with high demand such as Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, the Rhineland or the Rhine-Main region.
The prices of existing apartments have risen significantly more than new building prices: on average, they rose 6.6 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
Tobias Just, Professor of Real Estate Economics at the University of Regensburg, says: “If existing prices rise more sharply than new building prices, this is often a signal that affordability problems are pushing buyers from the new building segment into the existing segment.” In some regions, the increase could also be due to the fact that there is hardly any construction going on and therefore there is “little price-setting supply”.
Reiner Braun, CEO of Empirica AG, dares to look ahead to the coming months and the consequences of rising interest rates: “Inventory prices could soon fall because buyers are no longer there.” The lack of affordability due to rising credit costs could dampen demand and ensure that buyers have more room for maneuver again.
Ingo Foitzik, sales director at construction financing broker Interhyp, reports that “the rapid rise in interest rates” is causing reluctance among some prospective buyers. With average financing, the additional credit costs would be 200 euros per month. Interested parties are therefore more willing to “make compromises in terms of location, size or amenities”. But he sees “no fundamental withdrawal from the real estate market,” says Foitzik.
This impression also corresponds to the data, according to which inventory prices rose within one year in 322 of 400 districts. Prices for new apartments have risen in 249 districts. The Anhalt-Bitterfeld district recorded the greatest increase with an increase of 60.9 percent. The following map shows all districts in which new building prices increased compared to the same quarter last year.
However, there are also districts where new building prices have fallen in the past twelve months. The price decline was greatest in the Thuringian district of Sömmerda: the asking prices there are currently 40 percent lower. The highest declines are in the eastern German states. But there are also some regions in the greater Munich area where the new apartments on offer are cheaper than a year ago.
Tobias Just from the University of Regensburg says: “Many large cities such as Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart or Düsseldorf seem to have passed their peak.” The asking prices there are declining both compared to the previous year and the previous quarter. Expensive markets were therefore more likely to come under pressure. “The consistently highest increases are in rather illiquid, smaller cities and districts,” says Just.
In the long term, however, new building prices are likely to continue to rise on average, says Reiner Braun. Energy costs, inflation and building regulations are to blame. His forecast, which is demotivating for prospective buyers: "The prices of new buildings will rise as long as the costs rise. And the costs will rise until the end of the day." Just adds that the prices for new buildings “reflect more and more the cost pressure in construction”.
The data also shows price increases on the market for new houses, although at a lower level: they rose by 0.9 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year. This corresponds to less than half of the general price increase in Germany. However, experts point out that the small number of offers in this segment and strong differences between the properties can lead to distortions.
Similar to apartment prices, the district and the city of Munich are the two most expensive regions for houses, followed by Miesbach, Starnberg, then Heidelberg, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Ebersberg and Kempten im Allgäu. The most expensive city outside of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg is Mainz in twelfth place.
However, the strongest increases can be observed in the rental market: plus 3.8 percent for new apartments, 10.2 percent for existing apartments. It is noticeable that the level of asking rents is also increasing in metropolises that are in high demand.
For existing apartments, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich are among the districts with the highest rent increases, with increases of 22 to 23.5 percent. All three cities are among the districts with the highest rents in Germany, both for existing and new apartments.
