But you also have to dig deeper and deeper into your pocket to buy property. And experts expect the pandemic to drive up prices in the real estate market even more*. in addition to real estate prices and rentals, the cost of gas and electricity has risen dramatically in the past few months*. Consumers now have to pay up to 300 percent more for energy.
Despite everything, comparably priced living is still possible. Where in the hanseatic city you can pay relatively low rents and what to look out for, this article reveals.
| Name: |
free and hanseatic city of hamburg |
| area: |
755.2 km² |
| population: |
about 1.9 million (as of december 2021) |
| existing apartments: |
around 976.700 (as of december 2020) |
insider tips in hamburg: look outside the box – living here is still affordable
Six hamburg districts are already too expensive even for average earners. a good example of districts where you can still find cheap rentals in hamburg is hamm. Probably best known to motorists for the main arterial roads sievekingsallee, hammer landstrasse and hammer steindamm that run through the district, hamm is otherwise likely to be under the radar for hamburgers and especially those who want to become one. The district is only about two and a half kilometers from hamburg’s main train station and thus from hamburg’s city center. The S-bahn hamburg and U-bahn junction in the HVV berliner tor is even closer. But hamm is not only convincing because of its convenient location.
the mittelkanal and the nordkanal flow through hamm, the bille river runs through the district in the south, and the alster, hamburg’s blue heart, is within walking distance. With hammer park, hamm is home to one of hamburg’s oldest parks, whose origins date back to the 17th century. century back. the listed public park was designed in its present form by otto linne, hamburg’s director of horticulture at the time, and opened in 1920.
"hamm is relatively close to the city center and a good alternative, there are really nice corners.
Lars seidel, managing director of housing at grossmann& berger in the hamburger abendblatt
in hamm, you’ll find small neighborhoods of old buildings, large, imposing brick buildings, cute, small owner-operated stores, restaurants, cultural offerings and a weekly market. even or just because hamm is one of the hamburg districts where the average income is low, it is still possible to find affordable rents there. Especially when measured against the relative proximity to hamburg’s city center. And in addition, there is a relatively large supply of vacant apartments. After entering 750 euros in cold rent, the real estate portal immoscout24 showed.De of two abendblatt editors find 19 apartments at the time of their research.
Expert on the hamburg housing market: "livable areas in every district"
Lars seidel, managing director housing at grossmann& berger, advises in the hamburger abendblatt to "always look at the micro-location" of a district, i.e. the individual neighborhood, the immediate surroundings. And not just the district in which a potential new apartment is located, as a whole. "you can find livable areas in every part of town," says seidel.
Seven districts and 104 neighborhoods: "hamburg is the most beautiful city in the world everywhere!"
rolf bosse, managing director of the hamburg tenants’ association, also shares the opinion that there are more than a few livable neighborhoods in hamburg. in each issue of our members’ magazine, we present a district, and we always meet residents who are enthusiastic about "their" neighborhood. Hamburg is the most beautiful city in the world everywhere! So why not get involved with a different environment?" he tells the abendblatt.
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Service charges can increase rent: tenants in hamburg should pay attention to this too
Cheap rents, such as those in hamm, rothenburgsort or veddel in hamburg, should also always be checked in terms of ancillary costs. Those who are guided only by the cold rent could be in for a rude awakening when they receive their first utility bill. "some landlords set lower advance payments than would actually be necessary in order to make the rent appear more favorable overall," bosse told the hamburger abendblatt.
It helps to check the plausibility of the advance payments to be made for cold operating costs and for heating and hot water with the help of the operating cost index for hamburg. This can prevent the seemingly low rent from turning out to be less favorable in the end.
The cost of energy has risen massively in the last few months. The federal government is now planning to ease the burden on low-income families in this respect*.
Rent: this is how much hamburgers pay for rent
As a rule of thumb, households should not spend more than one-third of their income on rent. According to a study by the Hans Bockler Foundation, 53 percent of tenants in Hamburg spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent. This is reported by the abendblatt. For 28 percent, the figure is as high as 40 percent, and more than half of their income goes as far as 12 percent a month to pay the rent.
Housing: this group has the hardest time in hamburg’s housing market
Families who need at least 3 rooms and 75 square meters of living space but can’t pay more than 1,000 euros in cold rent have the hardest time finding a new apartment on the Hamburg housing market. If you don’t limit your search to just one part of town, but extend it to the whole city, you’ll find the right property on immoscout24.De just 35 apartments that meet the above criteria. This is what the abendblatt reports. At immowelt, the paper continues, there were 38.
Rent: the average rent is cheapest in these parts of hamburg
In ranking the hamburg neighborhoods with the lowest average rents, the abendblatt refers to an analysis by students of the gymnasium ohmoor who, using data from the real estate portal immoscout24.De have evaluated. In 2021, average rents for old and new buildings in steilshoop (under 10 euros per square meter) were the cheapest of all the districts near the city center.
In ohlsdorf, farmsen-berne, horn, billstedt, veddel, the square meter cost on average between 10 and 11.50 euros. 11.50 to 13 euros were due in dulsberg, hamm, bramfeld, wilhelmsburg, eidelstedt and fuhlsbuttel.
Hamburg housing market: manageable supply of affordable apartments
But in order to benefit from the low-cost districts, suitable living space must also be available there. And that’s where the next problem comes in: there’s a lack of suitable offers. During the test, the portal immoscout24 found.De after entering as a search criterion a cold rent of maximum 750 euro only one apartment in steilshoop (three rooms for 650 euro). in ohlsdorf, ads for a two- and a three-bedroom apartment went for 483 euros and 710 euros, respectively.
Hamburg: from 70 square meters and up to 1000 euros mainly on the outskirts possible
There are more offers, but smaller apartments in bramfeld. About two 40-square-meter apartments for less than 500 euros cold rent.
If more space is needed, apartments from 75 square meters upward can be found primarily in suburban neighborhoods. With 750 euro cold rent one does not come however also there any longer, to maximally 1000 euro gives it for instance in farmsen Berne (90 square meters, 843 euro), rahlstedt (87 square meters, 916 euro), schnelsen (89 square meters, 889 euro), poppenbuettel (82 square meters, 1000 euro) and rissen (78 square meters, 900 euro) dwelling to find, as the evening paper reports. The newspaper goes on to say that there are also some corresponding offers in more popular districts such as Barmbek or Eimsbuttel.
renting a new building in hamburg: here the prices are the cheapest
according to a new analysis, the average rent in hamburg for existing apartments is 12.80 per square meter. 15.50 euros is the average rent per square meter for newly built apartments.
Newly built apartments are cheapest to rent in the south of hamburg. In finkenwerder (12.10 euros) and in the districts of hausbruch (12.50 euros), neugraben-fischbek and marmstorf (12.80 euros each), which belong to the district of harburg.
