Price decline halted - Düsseldorf's real estate market recovers

After the sharp fall in prices last year, the Düsseldorf property market is showing signs of stabilizing. At the same time, the number of transactions is noticeably increasing again - both for apartments and houses. But what price level is the market currently at?

There is significantly more activity on the Düsseldorf real estate market again. After a historic slump in 2023, significantly more residential properties were sold in 2024. Total turnover rose by 69% to €3.4 billion, while the number of transactions increased by 29% to over 4,000. Nevertheless, the level remains below previous peaks: a few years ago, turnover was still over six billion euros, with more than 5,000 sales.

The sharp slump was mainly due to increased interest rates and construction costs. However, according to Thomas Weindel, Chairman of the Expert Committee for Property Values in Düsseldorf, the reluctance of market participants is decreasing noticeably. One exception, however, is the new-build sector: despite already low sales figures in 2023, even fewer units were sold in 2024, with just 76 new-build apartments.

As usual, the state authority has once again fulfilled its statutory mandate for 2024 and analyzed developments on the land and property market. Its report is based on the sums actually agreed in the purchase contracts. A look at the average values from the previous year shows The price decline has stopped for the time being. However, whether this means that the bottom has been reached will only be definitively confirmed in the coming months or even years.

As before, apartments in post-war buildings (older than ten years) are sold most frequently - a total of 2707 times last year. The average price per square meter was 4350 euros, only 0.7 percent less than in 2023, which Thomas Weindel classifies as a sideways movement. By comparison, a record level of around 5200 euros per square meter was reached in the first half of 2022, before prices fell significantly.

Prices for older apartments (pre-war buildings) also remained stable, averaging around 5000 euros per square meter. In 2022, EUR 6000 per square meter was still recorded here. In contrast, a decline can still be observed for investment properties, i.e. apartment buildings. After a price drop of 15 percent in 2023, prices have now fallen again by five percent to below €2,200 per square meter.

Prices for new-build apartments should be viewed with caution, as only a limited database is available due to the low sales figures. In good to very good locations, prices per square meter range from €6,000 to over €14,000.

The decline in prices for houses has also slowed. Terraced houses recorded a slight decline of two percent to around 4250 euros per square meter. Single-family houses fell by just one percent and are currently at around 5500 euros per square meter.

The benchmark property values published by the expert committee in the market report remained largely stable depending on the location and district, in some cases with slightly falling values. In "simple locations" such as Garath, Rath, Reisholz and Lierenfeld, prices for condominiums are between 2600 and 4400 euros per square meter, while single-family homes cost between 4400 and 5600 euros.

In medium to good locations such as Wittlaer, Grafenberg and Unterbach, prices for detached houses are between 5500 and 8000 euros, while apartments in this category, for example in Benrath and Flingern, cost between 3700 and 5700 euros per square meter. High-quality locations such as the Zooviertel and Niederkassel reach prices of between 8800 and 14,000 euros for detached houses. For apartments in exclusive locations such as the Altstadt or Oberkassel, the expert committee determined prices per square meter of between 5700 and 10,000 euros.

The expert committee also redetermined the standard land values, with a particular focus on the city centre this year. The top price on Königsallee including Kö-Bogen I remains unchanged at 55,000 euros per square meter. In Schadowstraße including Kö-Bogen II, on the other hand, the value fell to 32,000 euros per square meter - two years ago it was still at 40,000 euros.

Source: Rheinische Post, 20.02.2025