What happened, and who moved.
The European Central Bank left its key interest rates unchanged at its July meeting, keeping the deposit rate at 2.25% following June's 25 basis point increase. The decision was universally anticipated and removes the immediate threat of another increase for property borrowers. It provides considerably less reason,…
Germany's construction cost problem has entered a new and sharper phase. Prices for the construction of new conventional residential buildings rose by 5% in May 2026 compared with the same month last year, according to the Federal Statistical Office — the largest annual increase since August 2023. That represents a…
Germany's forced auction market is beginning to accelerate. In the first half of 2026, 7,845 properties were scheduled for compulsory sale, up 8.4% on the same period last year, according to specialist publisher Argetra . That rate of increase is almost double the 4.7% growth recorded during the whole of 2025.…
The European Union 's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) gave member states until 29 May 2026 to transpose its provisions into national law. That deadline has now passed. Not a single member state has met it.
A series of lawsuits now before Frankfurt Regional Court is shedding new light on one of Germany's more unusual real estate investment failures. Research by NDR , WDR and the Süddeutsche Zeitung has established that at least 17 statutory health insurance funds and associations of panel doctors ( KVen ) invested in…
Germany has quietly resolved one longstanding source of transaction friction in its commercial real estate market. A law published on 2 July removes the risk of being charged real estate transfer tax twice on the same share deal — a problem that has added unnecessary cost and complexity to institutional real estate…
Germany's federal government has taken the unprecedented step of trying to remove one of the biggest sources of political uncertainty hanging over Germany's residential investment market. On 2 July, the CDU/CSU and SPD coalition committee agreed to introduce a federal law prohibiting Germany's states from using…
Berlin's planning authorities are increasingly treating stays beyond six weeks as residential use rather than temporary accommodation, according to planning lawyer Mathias Hellriegel , speaking at Heuer Dialog 's Jahreskongress Temporäres Wohnen in Berlin. The distinction may appear technical. In practice, it…
Germany's open-ended real estate funds ( GOEFs ) may finally be approaching the bottom of their crisis. Scope 's latest ratings round downgraded five funds, upgraded two and left twelve unchanged — a marked improvement on last year, when more than half the funds analysed were cut and none were upgraded at all. Yet…
The European Central Bank raised its deposit rate by 25 basis points to 2.25% on Thursday 11th June, marking the first interest rate hike in nearly three years. The decision was unanimous and widely anticipated. ECB President Christine Lagarde offered no commitment to future steps, reiterating that the central bank…
German banks are retreating more deeply from real estate lending than many investors yet appreciate. At last week's Rueckerconsult INVESTMENT Expo in Berlin, Frederik Bräkling of Pax-Bank described a market where development finance at 50% LTV has become standard, second prolongations are increasingly common, and…