Germany-wide real estate price analysis Rental prices in Bonn rise despite the brake introduced by the federal government
Bonn/Nürnberg · The tightening of the nationwide rent brake two years ago had little success, says an analysis by the portal "Immowelt". In Bonn, rents have risen by an average of eleven per cent since 2020. Münster has recorded the highest increase nationwide.
Two years ago, the German government tightened the rent brake. The state-controlled regulation of housing costs was extended until 2025 and is intended to ensure that new tenants are not charged more than ten per cent more per square metre than the usual local price. And: since then, residents can retroactively reclaim overpaid costs for up to two and a half years. Incidentally, this regulation does not apply to new buildings and comprehensive renovations. In practice, however, it is not possible to speak of a brake on rental costs, at least according to the portal „Immowelt".
The company analysed 40 major German cities with regard to their rental price development over the past two years. The result: In 38 cities, rents have become more expensive since the tightening of the rent control. In ten cities, rents have even risen by at least ten percent. Among them is Bonn: in the federal city, the average price per square metre rose by a whopping eleven percent compared to 2020. In the first year of the pandemic, it was 9.60 Euro, last year 10.70 Euro.
Rental price increase in Bonn remains constant
This development reflects numerous statistics and analyses which document a continuous price increase in Bonn over the past years. In an interview in January, the Tenants' Association Bonn/Rhein-Sieg/Ahr identified several reasons for this: A steady influx, especially of students and young families with good incomes, as well as insufficient new construction.
The chairman of the association, Bernhard von Grünberg, therefore called for an offensive in non-profit housing construction. This has long since become an option not only for people with low incomes and benefit recipients.
In the analysis of the real estate portal, Münster is in the lead nationwide with a 17 per cent increase since 2020: the average housing costs per square metre climbed from nine Euro to 10.50 Euro. Bremen is right behind with a 14 per cent increase (7.90 Euro to nine Euro), Heilbronn with 13 per cent (9.30 Euro to 10.50 Euro), Potsdam also with 13 per cent (9.50 Euro to 10.70 Euro) and Darmstadt with twelve per cent (ten Euro to 12.20 Euro).
Most expensive cities see only slight rent increases
In North Rhine-Westphalia, only the Rhine metropolises Cologne and Düsseldorf were examined. The cathedral city increased by nine per cent - from 10.90 Euro to 11.90 Euro per square metre. Düsseldorf recorded an increase of eight per cent (10.50 Euro to 11.30 Euro). Hamburg (ten per cent) and Berlin (eight per cent) also increased. The only two of the forty cities surveyed that did not record any average cost increases were Erfurt (zero per cent) and Reutlingen (minus two per cent).
Equally surprising and relieving for many tenants is probably a smaller increase in the most expensive places in Germany. According to Immowelt, Munich has recorded only four per cent higher housing costs on average, Frankfurt am Main only two per cent. The real estate portal suspects that the rental market is currently calming down there because the price level has been exhausted.
INFLATION DOES NOT BYPASS RENTS
Vonovia CEO Rolf Buch speaks plainly
Germany's largest real estate company Vonovia believes that noticeable rent increases are inevitable in view of above-average inflation. "If inflation is permanently at four percent, rents will also have to rise accordingly every year in the future," Vonovia CEO Rolf Buch told the "Handelsblatt" on Wednesday. Many landlords would otherwise get into trouble, Buch said. "We can't pretend that inflation will pass rents by. That won't work." Vonovia is Germany's largest housing group. In Germany, Sweden and Austria, the listed company rents out more than 565,000 flats. In Germany, just under half of the population lived in rented accommodation in 2020. (dpa)
(Original text: Simun Sustic; Translation: Mareike Graepel)
