BERLIN, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- The downward trend of real estate prices in Germany partially came to a halt in the second quarter of 2023, according to the latest German Real Estate Index (GREIX) published on Thursday.
Compared with the previous quarter, prices for apartments declined slightly by 0.3 percent, while prices for single-family and multi-family houses rose by 2.3 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively, according to the index, a project of ECONtribute and the Kiel Institute.
"The German real estate market proved to be quite robust in the second quarter," said Moritz Schularick, president of the Kiel Institute. "The fact that real estate prices are stabilizing even when adjusted for inflation is a positive signal for the economy."
Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, however, prices for all types of residential housing in Germany were "still down sharply," Kiel Institute said. Prices for multi-family houses plummeted by 20.9 percent.
The slight stabilization of real estate prices was "no surprise," a spokesperson of the German real estate association IVD told Xinhua on Thursday. Despite rising interest rates, growing construction costs, and the land transfer tax, "demand remains high."
"The low level of new construction activity means that demand remains high and supply is limited, in particular in major cities," the IVD spokesperson added.
In the first quarter of the year, residential property prices in Europe's largest economy fell by 3.1 percent on the previous quarter. It also was the sharpest year-on-year decline since the start of the time series in 2000, according to the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). ■