The subdued demand for real estate is reflected in the prices for apartments and houses in Germany.

The price increase weakened significantly in the third quarter within a year.

Compared to the previous quarter, residential real estate was even 0.4 percent cheaper, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Thursday in Wiesbaden.

Residential real estate cost an average of 4.9 percent more in the period from July to September than in the same quarter of the previous year.

According to the information, a lower increase was last recorded in the third quarter of 2015 at 4.4 percent.

The Association of German Pfandbrief Banks pointed out a long time ago that the real estate market has cooled down significantly.

According to him, residential real estate prices fell by 0.7 percent in the third quarter compared to the second quarter.

They increased by 6.1 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

Biggest price increase in the country

According to the Federal Statistical Office, detached and semi-detached houses and condominiums rose in price by 9.7 percent within a year in the second quarter of the current year, according to the most recent data.

The largest price increases in the third quarter were in sparsely populated rural districts.

Single and two-family houses there increased in price by 7.8 percent, condominiums cost 7.4 percent more than a year earlier.

In the top cities of Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Düsseldorf, prices for single and two-family houses rose by 6.2 percent and for condominiums by 5.0 percent.

The weakest increase was 1.8 percent for single and two-family houses in urban districts.

Apartments there cost 4.5 percent more than in the same quarter of the previous year.

The rise in interest rates on loans, but also the significant rise in inflation and high building prices are having a negative impact on the demand for real estate after years of boom.

The German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) considers a fall in residential real estate prices of up to ten percent possible in the coming year.

DZ Bank expects a minus of up to six percent in 2023.