GREIX Index: Price momentum for residential property clearly slowing
According to Haufe Immobilien, the current German Real Estate Index (GREIX) shows that residential properties in Germany are barely becoming more expensive. In some cities, prices are even declining, for example in Stuttgart and Frankfurt am Main. The development for multi-family houses is particularly notable, as they are now trading at lower prices than before. The index, which is based on actual transaction data, is considered one of the most reliable indicators of price developments in the German residential property market and suggests that the years-long upward momentum is losing noticeable steam in most locations.
Sources: Haufe Immobilien
Berlin's working-class neighborhoods: New leases becoming unaffordable for existing residents
An analysis by Immowelt, also reported on by Haufe Immobilien, shows a marked worsening of the housing cost situation in Berlin. The study examined the warm rent (including utilities) for a 90-square-meter apartment in relation to the available household income of a three-person family across 93 Berlin districts. The result: in 89 of 93 districts, new lease rents now exceed 30 percent of family income — the threshold above which housing costs are considered burdensome.
According to the analysis, classic working-class neighborhoods and large housing estates on the city outskirts, such as Gropiusstadt and Britz, are particularly affected — areas that traditionally counted as affordable places to live. Both sources describe this development as a form of gentrification in which resident families can no longer afford new leases in their own neighborhood, even if they have no intention of moving. The data illustrate that the Berlin housing market is now under strain virtually across the board, with new-lease rents increasingly decoupling from local incomes.
Sources: Haufe Immobilien , Immowelt – Presse
Federal Court of Justice strengthens landlords' position on rent control: Missing disclosure to previous tenant has no lasting effect
According to Haufe Immobilien, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has clarified in a recent ruling that a landlord's failure to provide required disclosure to a previous tenant under the rent control law (Mietpreisbremse) has no effect on the subsequent lease agreement. Specifically, the case concerned the landlord's obligation to inform the previous tenant about modernization measures carried out, where such measures affect the permissible rent level. If the landlord fails to provide this disclosure to the previous tenant, the BGH ruled that this sanction applies exclusively to that prior tenancy.
For the subsequent lease, the omitted disclosure has no consequences — the permissible rent level under that lease remains unaffected. The ruling creates legal certainty for landlords in cases of tenant turnover and is likely to have practical relevance for numerous disputes involving the rent control law, in which successor tenants had attempted to rely on omissions committed against their predecessors.
Sources: Haufe Immobilien
CO2 Cost Allocation Act: Landlords with fossil-fuel heating will have to pay more
With the reform of the CO2 Cost Allocation Act (CO2KAG), the cost burden for fossil-fuel heating systems is shifting significantly to the detriment of landlords, as reported by Haufe Immobilien. Landlords who continue to rely on gas or oil heating will in future bear 50 percent of the CO2 costs themselves. While the existing tiered model, which links cost distribution to a building's energy performance, remains fundamentally in place, the burden is noticeably shifting in tenants' favor.
The reform thus creates an additional financial incentive for landlords to invest in energy-efficient renovation and the switch to more climate-friendly heating systems, since CO2 costs for fossil-fuel systems will now weigh far more heavily than before.
Sources: Haufe Immobilien
Nationwide solar obligation from 2027: New requirements under Section 106 of the GModG
According to Haufe Immobilien, from 2027 new public non-residential buildings in Germany will for the first time be required to be equipped with photovoltaic or solar thermal systems. From 2030, this obligation will be extended to new residential buildings as well. The legal basis is the new Section 106 of the Building Modernization Act (Gebäudemodernisierungsgesetz, GModG), which also sets out the conditions under which developers can be exempted from this obligation.
The nationwide solar obligation marks an important step in the gradual tightening of energy requirements for new buildings and is likely to already be influencing planners, developers and investors as they prepare future construction projects, since the corresponding lead times for planning and permitting must be factored in.
Sources: Haufe Immobilien
New Heating Law heads to the Federal Constitutional Court
According to Haufe Immobilien, the German environmental organization Deutsche Umwelthilfe has announced that it will file a constitutional complaint against the new Heating Law in September. Officially titled the Building Modernization Act, the law partially entered into force at the end of July. The planned legal action before the Federal Constitutional Court targets key provisions of the law.
Should the constitutional complaint succeed, it could create considerable uncertainty for owners, landlords and the construction industry, who have already been aligning their investment decisions with the new statutory requirements. The outcome of the proceedings is therefore likely to be one of the most important regulatory turning points for the real estate industry in the coming months.
Sources: Haufe Immobilien
KfW funding for barrier-free renovation exhausted ahead of schedule
According to Haufe Immobilien, the KfW program 455-B for promoting barrier-reduced housing has already been suspended again. The federal program was only relaunched on April 8, yet by the end of July the funds earmarked for 2026 had already been fully allocated. New applications are currently no longer possible.
For owners planning barrier-free renovations, this means they can no longer rely on this funding in the short term and must look for alternative financing options or wait for the program to be relaunched at a later date. The repeatedly rapid depletion of funds illustrates the high demand for grants supporting age-appropriate and barrier-free housing in Germany.
Sources: Haufe Immobilien
Waterfront property as an investment: Lakeside land defies market cooldown
An analysis by Von Poll Immobilien, reported on by Haufe Immobilien, examined price developments at 23 German lakes, including Tegernsee, Wannsee and Lake Constance. The analysis shows that properties in waterfront locations are largely bucking the general cooling of the residential property market and in some cases are recording significant increases in value.
In addition, ImmoScout24 reports a contrasting trend on the island of Sylt in its WohnBarometer: since 2022, the supply of existing houses there has grown considerably faster than in the rest of Germany, and also faster than in other high-priced locations such as Starnberg or Rottach-Egern. This growing willingness to sell on the island stands in contrast to the value gains seen at many other German lakes and points to a market peculiarity in one of Germany's most expensive residential locations.
Sources: Haufe Immobilien , ImmoScout24 – Presse/WohnBarometer
AI in the real estate industry: Data quality as the bottleneck
Several recent articles from Haufe Immobilien examine the state of digitalization in the German real estate industry. In an interview with Daniel Bruder, Senior Manager Infrastructure & Real Estate at Deloitte Consulting, the discussion centers on how data can be freed from IT silos and linked across specialized solutions — a topic gaining importance given the growing number of specialized applications alongside the classic ERP system. In the accompanying L'Immo podcast, Bruder elaborates to host Iris Jachertz on the thesis that the housing industry's IT ecosystem today is significantly larger than ERP alone and must accordingly be thought of holistically.
In another article, three experts interviewed by Haufe Immobilien warn that the industry is already at "five past twelve" when it comes to artificial intelligence. What matters most, they say, is not primarily the software deployed, but companies' ability to prepare their data, processes and organization for AI use in the first place. This assessment aligns with a parallel development in the United States: according to Propmodo, Mike Sroka, CEO of Dealpath, reports that companies are deploying AI widely but still place little trust in it for high-stakes decisions, due to a lack of a robust data strategy. This verification burden — every AI output must be double-checked — significantly diminishes the actual efficiency gains, according to Sroka, as long as no structured, reliable data foundations exist. Chase Garbarino, CEO of HqO, adds that a well-organized database always provides a leverage effect in the real estate industry. The German and American voices thus paint a consistent picture: the bottleneck for genuine AI value lies not in the models themselves, but in companies' data infrastructure.
Sources: Haufe Immobilien , Haufe Immobilien , Haufe Immobilien , Propmodo
Lighting control and robotics: New efficiency levers for building operations
According to Haufe Immobilien, the tightened European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) is putting intelligent lighting control in non-residential buildings in the spotlight. It is increasingly seen as a key measure for demonstrating compliance with stricter energy efficiency requirements, meeting ESG goals, and permanently reducing operating costs.
At the same time, a new white paper by market research firm Lünendonk, reported on by Haufe Immobilien, highlights the potential of service robotics in facility management. Areas of application range from cleaning and logistics to landscaping and security; the white paper also provides concrete guidance for successfully deploying robotics in property operations. Both developments illustrate how technology-driven efficiency measures are increasingly making their way into day-to-day building operations.
Sources: Haufe Immobilien , Haufe Immobilien
Reducing construction waste: Planning and logistics as levers for the construction industry
A study by TU Braunschweig, reported on by Haufe Immobilien, shows that a large share of the waste generated in the construction industry could be avoided. The main causes are over-ordering, material offcuts and transport damage. The researchers conclude that better planning, optimized logistics and take-back systems for building materials can noticeably reduce costs as well as raw material consumption and CO2 emissions.
The findings provide the construction industry with concrete starting points for integrating resource efficiency and circular economy principles more strongly into the construction process, particularly against the backdrop of increasingly scarce raw materials such as gravel.
Sources: Haufe Immobilien
Corporate health management as a strategic lever for real estate companies
An article by Haufe Immobilien describes corporate health management (BGM) as a strategic lever for performance and employer attractiveness in the real estate industry. Many real estate companies are already closer to effective best practice than they realize — often all that is missing is a formal framework to systematize existing approaches.
Given the shortage of skilled workers and growing ESG requirements, corporate health management is gaining increasing importance as a tool for employee retention and wellbeing at real estate companies competing for qualified staff.
Sources: Haufe Immobilien
Workplace trends: Offices increasingly focused on social gathering spaces
A CBRE study reported on by Haufe Immobilien shows that companies are increasingly designing their office space around social connection rather than traditional individual workstations. Amenity spaces are booming, while individual desks are declining. Artificial intelligence is further accelerating this shift, as repetitive individual tasks are increasingly automated and offices are being designed more as places for collaboration and encounter.
This development is likely to have a long-term impact on space planning and leasing strategies for office buildings in Germany, as tenants place growing emphasis on shared communal areas rather than pure desk capacity.
Sources: Haufe Immobilien
Interhyp appoints new Chief Sales Officer
According to a press release, Interhyp AG has appointed Ingo Foitzik as its new Chief Sales Officer (CSO). Foitzik will take up the position on October 1 and will be responsible for the company's entire sales operations going forward, from customer acquisition to advisory services in the retail customer business and other sales areas.
The appointment is relevant to the German mortgage financing market, as Interhyp is considered one of the largest brokers of private mortgage financing in Germany, and leadership changes in sales can carry signal value for strategic positioning in the competition for mortgage financing customers.
Sources: Interhyp – Presse/Zinsupdate
Air conditioning and heat pumps: VNW warns against hasty solutions
According to Wohnungswirtschaft-heute, Andreas Breitner, director of the Association of North German Housing Companies (VNW), warns against recommending private portable air conditioning units to tenants as a solution against summer heat. Given high electricity prices, such devices cause considerable costs, and many local power grids are not designed for mass usage, which in the worst case could lead to grid overloads.
Instead, Breitner advocates using the cooling function of heat pumps in summer when they are installed, provided they run on renewably generated electricity. Social housing landlords in northern Germany have already invested more than six billion euros over the past ten years in the energy-efficient renovation of their residential buildings. According to VNW experts, moving the target for climate neutrality forward from 2045 to 2040 would raise rents by at least an additional one euro per square meter, which could financially overwhelm many households. Breitner therefore calls for a focus on efficient, renewable heat and electricity generation as well as modern grid infrastructure, noting that VNW member companies are currently experiencing significant delays in some cases when connecting new heat pumps because grid capacity is insufficient.
Sources: Wohnungswirtschaft-heute