Residents without their own assets are being squeezed out of the housing market by tourists and due to financial considerations. This is the conclusion now reached by researchers from the Department of Human Geography at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU) led by Professor Dr. Christian Steiner and Dr. Gerhard Rainer. Using the example of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, they have investigated the influence of tourism on the housing market.
With 900 vacation apartments and houses with over 4,800 beds in January 2021, the number of vacation properties in Garmisch-Partenkirchen had risen by almost 25 percent or by 1,100 beds within one year. In addition, the purchase price for building plots had almost doubled from 2014 to 2020, and rents had risen by 37 percent in the same period. However, incomes in Garmisch-Partenkirchen are below average in a national comparison.
"Only wealthy locals who already own real estate and, above all, out-of-town buyers are still able to purchase real estate in the market community. If this price dynamic is not broken very significantly, the social situation can be expected to polarize even further," the researchers write in their technical paper. They attribute the development to the fact that significantly higher returns can be achieved with tourist rentals than with rentals for residential purposes. Together with the Bavarian Center for Tourism, which has already funded this case study, investigations on the topic will now also follow in Oberstdorf and Berchtesgaden.
Source and further information: ku.de
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