Frankfurt region: Rent prices increase steadily for residences and offices
The Rhine-Main area is attracting more and more people, firms in the region are once again adding employees, and incomes are climbing. This upturn is driving rent prices upwards for residential, office, and retail properties: “Rents will be increasing in the coming years—moderately, but steadily,� says Wolfgang Kubatzki of Feri, the rating agency, in the Frankfurter Rundschau (FR). Rent prices for offices in Frankfurt shall increase by approximately 8% until 2010, the markup for residential properties will be about 10%. With these rates of growth, Frankfurt and its surrounding region clearly lie above the German national average, they say in the FR.
Lack of supply for residences and modern office spaces
A reason for the expected rental price increases for office, as well as for residential, properties is said to be that supply is lagging behind demand. The number of newly-constructed residences in the Rhine-Main area declined 40% within ten years, says Kubatzki. The situation appears to be different with office properties; here, high vacancy of approximately 15% still prevails. It is said, however, that around three-quarters of the vacant offices are unoccupied due to construction deficiencies or to being too old. At the present time, new modern office towers are said to be particularly scarce in the metropolis on the Main.