Population in Germany 2019-2023, by housing situation

Most of the German population rented their housing. In 2023, around 37 million people did so, compared to roughly 27.9 million who had their own house. The German real estate market does offer different housing options, but it is also an increasingly tough one for tenants and future homeowners to navigate amid the ongoing recession.Competitive and expensiveBecoming a homeowner is getting more and more difficult in Germany. After almost a decade of uninterrupted growth, the market has entered a period of downturn. For years, homebuyers could access cheap credit, with mortgage rates as low as 1.5 percent. However, in 2022 and 2023, mortgage rates have increased strongly to over four percent, making it much more expensive to invest in residential property. In addition to that, prices for owner occupied houses have increased by over 57 percent since 2015, house price growth had also overtaken that of rentals the same year, making renting the cheaper living option, especially for younger people. The summary of the housing situation sounds familiar worldwide: fierce competition in urban areas when searching for rentals, with demand far outstripping supply, as well as rising property prices for those considering a house purchase. Somewhere to liveThe decision to rent rather than buy may occur for various reasons. Tenants may simply not be ready financially to buy a home, be that a house or apartment, or they would not be considered by a bank for a loan based on their current earnings. They may be pressed for time and hope to find a place to rent quicker, while buying a home is a long-term commitment, leading to different types of costs and legalities. A decreasing number of people lived in shared apartments in recent years, but figures had not changed so much as to rule this type of housing out as a popular option. Shared or not, the average rent prices of residential property in Germany have been going up year after year, both for new buildings and older ones.

德国大多数国民选择租赁住房。至2023年，约3700万人选择租赁，相较之下，拥有自有房屋的人口约为2790万人。德国房地产市场虽提供多样化的住房选择，然而，在持续的经济衰退背景下，对于承租者和未来的业主而言，其复杂性亦日益加剧。竞争激烈且成本高昂，成为业主在德国正变得越来越困难。在近十年的连续增长之后，市场已步入衰退期。多年来，购房者能够获得低廉的信贷，抵押贷款利率低至1.5%。然而，在2022年和2023年，抵押贷款利率显著上升，超过四个百分点，使得投资住宅物业的成本大幅增加。除此之外，自2015年以来，自用住房的价格已上涨超过57%，同年，房价增长速度亦超过了租赁价格的增速，使得租赁成为更经济的居住选择，尤其是对年轻人而言。这一住房状况的总结在全球范围内似乎都显得司空见惯：在城市地区寻找租赁住房时，竞争激烈，需求远超供给，而对于考虑购房的人来说，房价也在不断攀升。寻找一处栖息之所的决定可能因多种原因产生。租户可能仅仅是尚未具备财务条件购买房屋——无论是房屋还是公寓，或者他们根据当前收入无法获得银行的贷款。他们可能面临时间紧迫的困境，希望更快地找到租赁场所，而购房则是一项长期承诺，伴随着不同类型的成本和法律问题。近年来，共同居住的公寓居住人数有所减少，但这一数字的变化并不足以将此类住房排除在受欢迎的选项之外。不论是否共同居住，德国住宅物业的平均租金价格年复一年地持续上升，无论是新建的还是老旧的。