Real estate market: Sales of condominiums are declining significantly

David Gramzow's work doesn't just happen by itself. This can be seen, for example, in an apartment in Berlin-Kreuzberg that he had on offer. It has three rooms, is 100 square meters in size and should cost 700,000 euros. Just a few years ago, says the real estate agent from the capital, “they would have knocked me out for that. Now there have been three serious inquiries in three months." The apartment has not yet been sold; the owners wanted to wait until the summer.

The sellers from Kreuzberg are not alone with this attitude. This is supported by data from 20 German cities and districts, which the Kiel Institute for the World Economy has evaluated and which is available to ZEIT in advance: According to this, fewer and fewer real estate advertisements for condominiums result in a sale. “The completion rate fell sharply in all segments compared to the end of 2021,” write the Kiel scientists Francisco Amaral, Hanno Eckert, Jonas Zdrzalek and Steffen Zetzmann. This means that many sellers cannot find a buyer for their property at the price they had in mind. Both sides, the owner and the prospective buyer, find it difficult to find each other.