Berlin After the increases in heating costs last year, owners and tenants will have to be prepared for further burdens in 2023. “Especially in the case of heating costs, there may still be significant price increases compared to 2022, since the advance payments from the previous year 2021 were usually not adjusted to the price jumps,” said Ingeborg Esser, general manager of the central association of the housing industry GdW, the Handelsblatt.
“The price caps that have been introduced will help, but there will still be significant price increases,” she explained.
In addition, higher burdens are foreseeable for the cold ancillary costs, as Michael Voigtländer, real estate expert at the Cologne Institute for Economic Research (IW) told the Handelsblatt. “I expect further increases in cold operating costs in 2023 as inflation is only now driving labor costs,” he explained. “In addition, many municipalities will try to increase income due to difficult budgetary situations.”
The cold ancillary costs include, for example, garbage disposal or sewage disposal, building cleaning, maintenance of elevators, but also the maintenance of the community garden. One-off expenses, on the other hand, are not part of the operating costs.
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GdW general manager Esser also expects cost increases for cold ancillary costs, albeit not as sharply increased as recently for heating costs. “Here, price increases are to be expected at most within the framework of the respective wage agreements or the inflation rate,” she said.
High costs are politically and socially explosive
According to current forecasts, it can be assumed that inflation will be lower in the coming year: The Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW), for example, expects 5.4 percent, the Bundesbank expects an inflation rate of 7.2 percent.
Whether owner or tenant: everyone is affected by rising ancillary housing costs. However, the development of these costs is extremely political and socially explosive, especially with regard to low-income tenant households.
After years of moderate increases in ancillary costs, rising ancillary costs, higher net rents and additionally increasing ancillary costs have led to an average increase in total rent of 10.9 percent between September 2021 and September 2022, according to calculations by the IW.
For Lukas Siebenkotten, President of the German Tenants’ Association, this is no longer acceptable: The operating costs that can be passed on to the tenants “must be clearly limited by law,” he demanded. In addition, it must be stipulated by law that only those costs may be passed on to tenants that are appropriate and economical.
Additional costs can make up a third of the total rent
In regions with a low level of net cold rents, the ancillary costs now make up around a third of the total rent, according to an IW report on warm and cold ancillary costs in 401 cities and districts in Germany, which was published in December. The housing cost report was created on behalf of dii Deutsche Invest Immobilien AG.
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This means that the energy-related renovation of existing buildings is becoming increasingly important. In Germany, gas and oil are still the most important energy sources for private households. More than half of the apartments are heated with gas, another 23.5 percent with heating oil.
The proportion of apartments that are heated with gas is particularly high in north-west Germany. In the Weser-Ems region, the share is 85.2 percent and is therefore the highest in a regional comparison. But even in the densely populated metropolitan areas of Düsseldorf and Cologne, the proportion of apartments with gas heating is more than 60 percent.
Dependence on gas is significantly lower in the south. In Lower Bavaria, for example, only a quarter of the apartments are heated with gas. On the other hand, oil heating systems are more common in the south and in the middle of the country.
Costs have increased across all types of heating.
(Photo: dpa)
On average, and across all types of heating, the down payments for additional heating costs increased by an average of 48 percent within a year. For apartments that are heated with gas, the payments on account increased by 56 percent, for heating oil by 43 percent.
In absolute figures, according to the housing cost report, the ancillary costs increased by 506 euros per year for a 75 square meter apartment. If the apartment is heated with gas, the additional costs are 568 euros.
Up until the winter of 2021/22, the down payments for additional heating costs were generally below the down payments for cold operating costs, averaging EUR 1.10 per square meter of living space. This has changed with the sharp price increases for heating energy. According to the report, tenants now have to calculate an average of 1.74 euros per square meter for heating energy.
Higher cold running costs in big cities
As of September 2022, advance payments averaging EUR 1.72 per square meter of living space were due for the cold operating costs, which corresponds to an increase of nine percent nationwide compared to September 2021.
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The IW observed a particularly strong increase in Berlin. In the capital, cold ancillary costs increased by 9.8 percent. They have risen the least in Bremen and Lower Saxony, where the increase is 3.5 and 3.1 percent respectively. In the most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the increase is 4.5 percent.
In large cities, cold operating costs are usually higher. There are typically more apartments in apartment buildings here. In these, a caretaker is often employed, costs such as garden maintenance are taken over by companies, and a lift is operated.
These operating cost items are less common in rural areas with a larger proportion of smaller buildings. In two-family houses, one of the two parties often takes care of the garden and clearing the streets, an elevator is not in use. These cost differences are also reflected in a regional comparison, analyzes the IW.
In addition, the operating costs, which are determined by the municipalities, have a significant impact on the amount of the cold operating costs. The cold operating costs in Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse are particularly high. High property tax rates are passed on to the tenants here.
The cold operating costs for tenants are highest in Leverkusen, where an average of 2.26 euros per square meter is incurred, almost four times as much as in the rural regions of eastern Bavaria. In Frankfurt am Main, tenants have to calculate with 2.19 euros, in Cologne with 2.06 euros and in Düsseldorf with 2.03 euros.
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