The rush for houses and apartments in Bad Homburg remains high, prices are rising, and mid-terrace houses are particularly popular.

These are the results of the real estate market report presented by Mayor Alexander Hetjes on Tuesday.

"Bad Homburg is a lovely city and obviously also a place worth living in," said the CDU politician.

The run on real estate is unbroken, but like land, it is “a scarce commodity”.

The city is already reaching its limits on three sides.

"In the south, where we could still grow, we must not grow, because otherwise we will cut off the air in Frankfurt," said Hetjes.

The pressure to move has consequences for the prices: "The rise and rise and rise."

Florentine Fritzen

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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The number of 619 purchase contracts in 2021 is not unusual, reported Stefan Wegfahrt, chairman of the expert committee for real estate values.

"The special thing is that the money turnover has increased so much." If the value was 469.6 million euros in 2020, it was 872.9 million euros in 2021.

Sales were particularly high in 2017, too, at 712.8 million euros.

If one disregards various high-priced sales of large areas in 2017 and 2021, according to the report, there has been relatively steady growth of nine percent per year.

"One cannot say at this point in time whether this is the end of the road," said Michael Stauder, who heads the office of the expert committee.

The committee consists of seven people and evaluates the purchase contracts for the annual report, which the notaries have to submit to it.

real estate as an asset

Not everyone who buys in Bad Homburg also wants to live there.

Many wanted to invest money in real estate because of the low interest rates, said the mayor.

According to Stauder, only about half of the purchases are intended for personal use.

The city must react to the fact that "concrete gold" is so attractive, said Hetjes.

It is important "that everyone who is looking for housing finds one" - including police officers and educators.

Bad Homburg therefore attaches great importance to subject funding, i.e. rent subsidies that are based on salary.

That is what happens with the apartments on the former Vickers site.

The apartment buildings on Urseler Strasse and the “Am Hühnerstein” development area in Ober-Erlenbach also relieved the rental market.

Demolition of the old hospital will soon begin, where a residential area is to be built.

Hetjes pointed out that densification would also result in terraced houses.

They are in demand, especially mid-terrace houses.

Wegfahrt explained it like this: The plots are comparatively small, the standard land value is not quite as decisive.

In contrast to the condominium, however, it is “really a matter of ownership”, not co-ownership.

Some are willing to spend more for this: While the average purchase price in 2019 was 423,000 euros, in 2021 buyers paid 728,000 euros for a mid-terrace house.

Terraced houses were even sold for an average of 829,000 euros in 2021.

The prices for condominiums, on the other hand, even fell slightly compared to 2020. In the years before, they had always risen.

"Maybe the market is exhausted there," said Wegfahrt.

Apartments of 120 square meters or more were the most sought-after in 2021.

The interest in many rooms could be due to Corona: According to Stauder, buyers make sure that they can work from home.

The pandemic is also playing a role in real estate for trade and commerce.

According to the information, the price trend is still high, especially in the city center.

But it remains to be seen how the need for space for retail, gastronomy and offices will develop in view of more working from home, more online trade and digitization.