Press release No. 370 of 23 September 2019
- Businesses providing residential property services benefit from price increase and new construction
- 26% more people working in intermediation, sale and management (2014 to 2017)
- Increasing turnover of real estate agencies even after introduction of the “orderer principle”
WIESBADEN – Against the background of higher residential property prices, more and more people in Germany have worked in the field of residential property intermediation, sale or management in the last few years. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that, in the four years from 2014 to 2017 alone, the number of people working in the field of residential property agencies rose from roughly 58,000 to 70,000. In 2015, the Federal Government introduced the “orderer principle” for rented dwellings. Since then, it has no longer been possible for owners renting out their dwelling to pass on the commission fee to their tenants. This obviously has not had negative effects on the turnover. Since that time, residential property agencies have increased their turnover from 6.73 to 8.49 billion euros (2017). Real estate agencies are benefiting from rising prices of dwellings and houses. Generally, their service charges are a percentage of the purchase price or rent.
