Over the past 150 years, real estate in large cities has yielded lower returns than real estate in smaller cities. This is according to "ECONtribute Discussion Paper No. 31", published by a team led by economist Prof. Dr. Moritz Schularick, member of the Cluster of Excellence "ECONtribute: Markets & Public Policy" at the University of Bonn. The team not only examined...

According to calculations by the Euroconstruct research group, of which the ifo Institute is a member, the European construction industry has overcome the coronavirus slump. Euroconstruct assumes that the construction volume will grow by 3.6% this year. According to Euroconstruct, the construction volume had already grown by 5.6% in 2021, but fell by 4.7% in 2020. With an increase of 7.1 percent...

Together with the Thuringian Housing Association (VWT), planners have developed a concept for the energy-efficient refurbishment of mass-produced residential buildings from the 1980s. This is being tested in a prefabricated GDR building owned by the Stadtroda housing association in Stadtroda, a small town in Thuringia. Among other things, the GDR panel building is to receive a new type of heat exchanger by 2023....

A real estate purchase contract cannot be rescinded without further ado if a crime has been committed in the property and the buyer was unaware of this when signing the contract. This was recently decided by the Coburg Regional Court (Coburg Regional Court, judgment dated 06.10.2020, case reference: 11 O 92/20). In this case, a buyer had purchased a house in 2018. The seller had not told her about the...

The costs of modernization measures are broken down by the wohnen-magazin.de portal. Under the "Modernize" tab, interested parties will find a tool where they can choose between "Energy-efficient renovation" and "Create living space". Under "Energetic refurbishment", for example, planned modernization measures such as "Modernize heating",...

62% of consumers fear that the rise in energy prices will place a heavy burden on them. This is the result of a survey conducted by Kantar on behalf of the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv). Furthermore, according to the survey, 71% of consumers do not want electricity or gas to be cut off to insolvent customers on low incomes by the end of April 2022. In the telephone survey...

Building prices have recently risen enormously. According to the Federal Statistical Office, producer prices for building materials such as wood and steel in particular rose more sharply on average in 2021 than at any time since the survey began in 1949. Solid structural timber also increased in price, by 77.3 percent compared to the previous year's average. Roof battens became 65.1 percent more expensive and...

Owners and tenants can reduce their heating costs by taking various measures. This is now pointed out by the VdZ - Forum for Energy Efficiency in Building Technology. For example, they can lower the room temperature slightly. For every degree lowered, around six percent of energy can be saved. In addition, the radiators should not be set to the highest level, as this can cause rooms to...

A landlord may not immediately give notice to a tenant who has withheld part of her rent due to the Berlin rent cap. This has now been decided by the Berlin Regional Court. In this case, the tenant had withheld part of the rent since March 2020 in reliance on the rent cap. She did not immediately pay back this part after the rent cap ended in spring 2021,...

What can young tenants look out for when moving into their first home? The bellevue.nzz.ch website provides the answer to this question and various tips. Before buying furniture and accessories, it is advisable to think about the furnishing style. Tenants should also think about the choice of colors in advance and decide on a color family.