Urban demand fuels price hikes in German residential properties

German real estate prices are experiencing their fastest growth in years, with apartment prices rising nationwide and across all eight major cities for the first time since 2020. 

ImmoScout24 Residential prices Q4 2025

This trend is highlighted by the ImmoScout24 Residential Barometer for Q4 2025.
Demand for property is increasingly shifting towards major cities. The top eight metropolitan areas saw a 1% increase in interest during Q4 2025, while rural areas experienced an 8% decline. Similarly, demand for single-family homes fell by 4% within the quarter, indicating a cooling interest in non-urban living.
Prices for both existing and new-build condominiums increased by 1% in Q4 2025 across all eight major cities and nationwide. The national average reached €2,574/m², representing a 3.7% year-on-year rise.
Berlin led this growth with a 2.3% quarterly increase to €4,884/m². Leipzig followed with a 2.2% rise to €2,992/m², maintaining its position as the most affordable major city. Year-on-year, Berlin (+5.2%), Leipzig (+4.8%), and Cologne (+4.3%) showed the strongest growth, while Stuttgart (+1.4%) and Hamburg (+1.8%) lagged.
Across Germany, asking prices for new-build apartments rose by 0.9% to €4,133/m², up 3.1% from the previous year. Berlin again saw the highest quarterly growth at 2.2% (€6,874/m²). Leipzig followed with a 2% increase (€5,243/m²). Year-on-year, Hamburg experienced the largest price jump at 5.6%, followed by Leipzig (+4.7%) and Berlin (+4.6%).
Existing single-family homes showed a healthy year-on-year price increase of 2.8%, though quarterly prices remained stable (-0.3%), averaging €2,844/m² in Q4 2025. Berlin and Hamburg showed the strongest quarterly growth at 0.4% each. New-build homes saw prices rise 1.2% quarter-on-quarter and 2.0% year-on-year, reaching an average of €3,925/m². Frankfurt am Main stood out as an outlier, experiencing a 1.8% decline in house prices compared to both the previous quarter and the previous year.
Germany’s real estate market ended 2025 with an average annual price increase of over 3%, signalling a level of sustained market stabilisation last observed in 2022.
Gesa Crockford, Managing Director of ImmoScout24, commented: "Prospective buyers are particularly interested in urban areas; we last saw simultaneous price increases across all metropolitan areas almost five years ago. However, interest rates for construction financing have recently risen again. We expect rates of almost 4% for 2026. As equity capital requirements remain high, homeownership will continue to be difficult for many to achieve unless federal or state governments provide new incentives."