Rents and real estate prices have risen significantly

Frankfurt Finding cheap apartments is becoming increasingly difficult: rents in German cities are rising much more sharply than in the previous year – and the purchase prices for real estate are also continuing to climb for the time being. In the first half of 2022, tenants had to dig much deeper into their pockets, especially in small and medium-sized towns. This is a result of the new residential price index of the German Real Estate Association (IVD) among 450 cities and municipalities in Germany, which the association published on Wednesday.

Across Germany, rents for existing apartments rose by an average of 3.3 to 3.6 percent. “Rent price dynamics increased almost across the board,” said IVD President Jürgen Michael Schick to the Handelsblatt. However, the increase is still well below the rate of inflation, which had recently recorded sharper jumps.

Living in Germany has become more expensive again this year – even without taking the rising energy costs into account. Rents in small and medium-sized towns rose the most at around four percent.