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Housing market: One in two people are looking for longer than a year
Find out here how long it takes to look for an apartment in Berlin and why the market is so tense. Facts and figures about the real estate situation in the capital.
Housing market: One in two people are looking for longer than a year
Finding an apartment, both in Berlin and nationwide, is a lengthy problem for many people. According to a survey by Immoscout24, around 54.4 percent of respondents have been looking for a new place to live for over a year. A significant proportion, namely 22.7 percent, have been intensively searching for more than two years. Despite this long search period, 64.1 percent of those surveyed said they were optimistic that they would find the right thing this year. In contrast, 16.4 percent of those who would like to move in the near future are not hopeful, according to Immoscout24.
Immoscout managing director Gesa Crockford emphasizes the tense market situation and rising rents as the main reasons for the lengthy search for accommodation. The increasing costs associated with moving are putting many people off, and creating new, affordable housing remains a key challenge for the real estate industry in the coming years. The data also shows that the search for rental properties is increasingly shifting from urban areas to the surrounding areas and even to rural regions. Since 2019, there has been a 38.1 percent increase in search queries across Germany, although the largest cities already have a high level of demand and are therefore experiencing a slower increase.
The survey results also show that personal and family reasons are the most common reasons for moving at 37.6 percent. Around 28 percent of those looking need a larger apartment, while 13.5 percent want to reduce their living space. For 7.8 percent, quitting their current apartment is the trigger for moving. However, the majority of those surveyed see high prices as an obstacle on the way to a new home - 48.1 percent say that high rental or purchase prices put them off. In addition, a majority say that the available offer does not meet their needs (21.8 percent) and 36.8 percent do not want to change their neighborhood.
Interestingly, the survey results also show that Germans are generally not fond of moving. Only 6.6 percent of those surveyed have never moved in their life, while 15.6 percent have moved at least once. A significant number (30.2 percent) have moved two to three times, and almost as many (27.9 percent) have even moved more than five times in their lives.