Germany

Overview

Germany’s impressive economic outlook bodes well for investment in its real estate market. 

To international investors, including those dealing in real estate, Germany is one of the hottest opportunities on the globe these days.

After the near stagnation and high unemployment of 2001 to 2005, the economy has rebounded spectacularly.   

Nowhere is this more evident than in the German property sector, which has seen an influx of foreign investment in the past year. The long period of economic stagnation, especially in the east, has kept house prices low.

Some investors now see this as an opportunity. Property prices in former East German cities such as Berlin and Dresden are up to 30% lower than the rest of the country, meaning that they can often offer the best deals.

For example, apartments in Berlin can be bought for a tenth of the price of similar properties in London and are even cheaper than several eastern European capitals, says Jane Slade in the Sunday Express. “Low property prices and historically low interest rates should enable [foreign] investors to enter the market without feeling they are risking much,” she adds.

Just 40% of people own their own property in Germany, but domestic demand, and therefore prices too, are set to rise as the German government starts to liberalise the mortgage market.