German real estate market overheated, says central bank

Deutsche Welle ^ | 02.20.2017 | aw/msh (Reuters, dpa, AFP)

[Olog-hai]

German residential real estate is overvalued by up to 30 percent, the central bank warned as part of its monthly report for February, released on Monday.

The Bundesbank said the German economy should retain a strong footing in the coming months thanks to high industrial and construction activity, but warned this could not fully account for a recent surge in residential property prices. […]

Home prices in German cities rose by 8 percent in 2016 after rising by an annual average of 6.75 percent in the previous six years, according to Bundesbank calculations based on data from consultancy firm Bulwiengesa. […]

The report singled out seven cities which were particularly affected by overheated markets — Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich and Stuttgart. …

[pepsionice]

I live in the shadow of Frankfurt (Wiesbaden)...and had a renter in the house who was looking for almost a year to buy a property in the region. He was willing to spend up towards 400,000 Euro (roughly $500,000) for decent family house within 30 minutes of Wiesbaden.

So for this period he searched, and the only thing in the 400,000 Euro range were fixer-uppers...unless he was willing to go to the 45-to-60 minute drive routine.

This is part of the trend and kinda unsettling for the professional crowd who are reaching 35 years old and want to finally buy a house. Over the past two decades, an umbrella of sorts has occurred and made a typical one-family home mostly a dream.

Unless more S-bahn lines (rapid rail) occur and make rural areas more part of this trend and ease the housing crisis...I think a large chunk of society will be settled with unreasonable debt.

[vooch]

Munich even more extreme.

Housing shortage will end in 3-7 years as population drops.

[pepsionice]

You can already see that in rural area housing prices. You can drive an hour north of Wiesbaden, and in towns of 2,000 people...you can find houses in the 140,000 Euro range...which would be going for 450,000 if within 20 km of Wiesbaden.

Lots of rural areas in Germany are already witnessing population spiral and watching grocery stores, gas stations, and small banks shutting down. In fifteen years, you could retire to some of these villages in rural Germany and buy a house for less than 75,000 Euro.