empirica Housing Market Index

The empirica housing market index is an important tool for assessing the price development of supply data on the German property market. It provides a comprehensive overview of the price movements of residential property in various regions of Germany.

On average across all construction years, the trend of falling indices for owner-occupied flats and detached and semi-detached houses is continuing this quarter, but is edging ever closer to zero. By contrast, the indices for rented flats continue to rise, this quarter by 1.4%. The indices for detached and semi-detached houses fell by 0.5% compared to the previous quarter, compared to -4.6% in the same quarter of the previous year. The index for owner-occupied flats was only -0.4% compared to the previous quarter and -3.6% compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

The indices for newly built condominiums rose again, this time by 0.4% on the previous quarter, while the indices for newly built detached and semi-detached houses rose minimally for the first time in almost two years (Q3'22) (+0.3%). The increase in newly built rental flats is 1.4% this quarter.

empirica Housing Market Index

Purchase Options

Are you interested in the empirica Housing Market Index? You can obtain the data at district level from empirica regio as access to the empirica regional database (Market Studio  and RESTful API ). In addition to access to the housing market index, you benefit from a wide range of other data. You also get immediate access to the updated index as soon as it is published.

Request a trial access now

If you are interested in a consultation appointment or an individual offer to obtain the empirica housing market index, please contact us by e-mail at info@empirica-regio.de  or under +49 (0) 228 914 89 214.

Data Source and Methodology

The empirica price database for property prices dates back to 2004 and is by far the largest collection of property listings in Germany. Since 2012, we have based our analyses on the VALUE market database, which offers a random sample independent of the reference date with professional Doppler adjustment (cross-sectional and longitudinal) and expert-supported plausibility checks. The hedonics used here are based on a bottom-up approach that aggregates from 400 regressions at district level to regional, federal state and national values.

Advertised asking prices are shown in euros/m², for 60-80m² (single-family homes 100-150m²), good fittings, new build (the last ten years of construction in each case) and all years of construction. The prices are adjusted using a hedonic procedure. This is necessary because the number of advertised flats can vary from quarter to quarter. The determination of hedonic prices is a procedure that takes into account changes in quality (furnishings, flat size, age of construction, etc.).

Detailed results and further information on the methodology can be downloaded from the empirica ag website:

empirica (2024): empirica Housing Market Index 2/2024  (external download in German only).



housing price index
Is the impact of energy efficiency on prices overestimated?

Is the impact of energy efficiency on prices overestimated?

Various analyses have recently attempted to quantify the possible price discount on non-energy-efficient properties. Such a discount is undisputed, but the amount is probably overestimated. In a background analysis, empirica has examined more closely how this discount can be calculated on the basis of asking purchase prices.
Housing market data Q2/2024: Purchase prices stable and rents continue to rise

Housing market data Q2/2024: Purchase prices stable and rents continue to rise

Purchase prices generally appear to have bottomed out and are falling more slowly than before or are already rising slightly. However, there are no uniform trends, as there are still major differences depending on the segment or region. In general, purchase prices for new builds tend to rise more than for existing properties, for condominiums (ETW) more than for single-family homes and in urban regions more than in federal states.
Housing market data Q1/2024: Slow stabilisation of purchase prices

Housing market data Q1/2024: Slow stabilisation of purchase prices

The purchase prices in the empirica property price index for Q1/2024 indicate that the bottom has been reached. This is shown by the new data from the empirica property price index for Q1/2024. While new construction prices continue to show a stable trend, purchase prices across all years of construction should now also have reached a stable level. The first increases can already be observed across all years of construction in cities with a rather low purchase price level.