According to Berlin’s property valuation committee, apartment sales in 2021 added up to 19,017 units sold, which is 19% more than in 2020.

The surge in demand to buy has led to a large contraction in the supply of rental apartments, according to Einar Skjerven, managing director of the Skjerven Group in Berlin. Skjerven added: “Berlin is actually a renter’s city by nature. But the rent cap imposed by Berlin’s state government caused the supply of rental apartments to decline, at one point by about 40%. The situation turned many people who would have loved to rent into home buyers. The demand for move-in-ready apartments right up to the end of the year exceeded anything we have ever seen.”

Skjerven went on to say that the property sector also benefits from the fact that new-build housing construction is declining at a time when the city’s population is growing. Only 16,337 apartments were completed in Berlin in 2020. This equals a year-on-year drop of 14%. Given the regressive planning approval figures, the trend is likely to persist in the years ahead, which in turn will keep driving up prices for existing apartments, he added.