Building interest rates are rising somewhat, real estate prices are much more pronounced - and at the same time the scramble for the coveted apartments in the big cities is becoming more and more extreme.

This is reported by Mirjam Mohr, board member of the credit broker Interhyp, in an interview with the FAZ. On average, the banks are now asking 0.9 percent for a ten-year fixed interest rate building loan.

That is a slight increase compared to August, but still little historically.

Christian Siedenbiedel

Editor in business.

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In the next few weeks, building interest rates are likely to fluctuate, with a slight upward trend, says Mohr: "The longer-term development is difficult to forecast, it depends on many factors, including future monetary policy." The experts regularly surveyed by Interhyp In any case, the banks are currently expecting a ratio of 70 to 30 that the building interest will be higher in a year than now: “It is quite possible that we will have building interest of 2 percent again in three years - but such long-term forecasts are fraught with considerable uncertainty. "

When is a forward loan worthwhile?

Many customers in consultations are currently dealing with the increased inflation. "If the high inflation rates last longer, this will have an impact on monetary policy and bond yields - in the longer term that could also mean higher building interest rates," says Mohr. Corona also had an impact on people's attitudes towards real estate. “During the pandemic, we were able to observe that residential real estate has become even more attractive for Germans.” The home office, which will not completely disappear after the pandemic, also made people critically rethink their housing situation. In any case, the real estate price increase continues:"In the first eight months of this year real estate prices in Germany rose by an average of 9 percent - that is a similar order of magnitude as in 2020 as a whole."

Many home finance customers are currently asking for forward loans to secure the low interest rates for the future. Whether this is worth it depends on various calculations: "There are two reasons why property owners are currently securing the remaining debt of their loans early with forward loans - some want more security, others expect an advantage," says Mohr. Those who already agree on a forward loan might sleep more peacefully if interest rates should rise soon. A forward loan is analytically worthwhile if the borrower expects interest rates to rise more sharply in the future than the bank anticipates in its prices for a forward loan: “Anyone who expects interest rates to rise faster than the market is for him a forward loan could be interesting.“Whether a forward loan is worthwhile can be calculated using special forward loan calculators on the Internet.

However, Mohr advises against the idea of ​​buying property on credit just because of inflation: “For the vast majority of people, the decision to buy a property is the biggest financial decision in life - you should make it because you own a house want to have, not because you want to outsmart inflation. "

Ever tougher bidder battles in big cities

In any case, Mohr does not believe in a real estate bubble in Germany. However, she admits: "We are seeing a very clear rise in prices in the metropolises, also in the suburbs of many large cities - there are likely to be exaggerations." With regard to the financing of real estate, however, the German banks are much more cautious than America's banks before the financial crisis: The average loan-to-value ratio for German real estate loans is 81 percent, the fixed interest rate is a good 13 years and the initial repayment is a good 3 percent - “it's all still very conservative”. However, there are now more frequent cases in which a property buyer has already reached an agreement with the seller, but the bank that is supposed to finance the project then calls the purchase price “very expensive”.

Especially in the coveted big cities, there are more and more regular bidding battles with the owner and realtor when it comes to viewing appointments: "Two remarkable developments can be observed: Buyers often have to be incredibly fast for coveted properties in the big cities and, under certain circumstances, have to prove possible financing at the viewing appointment can - in addition, particularly interesting apartments are awarded according to the bidding process, ”says Mohr. In the bidding process, no fixed price is given and the broker or owner assigns the property to the highest bidder. “Another possibility is for the broker to give a price beforehand, but at the viewing appointment, some prospective buyers let it be known that they would also be willing to pay more, and then get the contract.“That happens more and more often - but of course it is bad for households with a tight budget, which had previously calculated that they can barely afford the apartment they were hoping for.