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ePaper created 2012-04-20, 15:08:32 | version 1.23.0
17Management Report Münchener Hypothekenbank eG At the same time, price differentials within the residential property market continued to widen. In particular, prices noted for houses and apartments in major metropolitan areas like Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt/Main or Berlin rose signifi- cantly last year. This further widened the existing price gap vis-à-vis less developed regions. Price differences even ex- panded further within metropolitan areas. Substantial premi- ums were paid for top properties in the best locations as sup- ply tightened and individual cases of exuberant pricing began to appear in certain segments of the market. However, this kind of danger was not visible in the overall German residen- tial property market. Based on calculations prepared by the Association of German Pfandbrief Banks (vdp), prices for owner occupied residential property rose by a moderate 2.5 percent on a nationwide basis, which was far removed from the price increases that marked the overheated markets seen in coun- tries like Spain, Ireland and the USA prior to the outbreak of the financial market crisis in 2008. Despite the growing housing shortage in metropolitan areas, the overall supply of housing in Germany still remained good. The number of building permits issued for housing was sub- stantially higher than in the previous year with a good 205,000 permits issued for housing by November 2011, or 20 percent more. It is anticipated that about 220,000 building permits were issued for new housing for the full year. This, however, did not meet the actual demand for new housing and barely eased pressures in markets where the supply of housing was tight. The volume of new business generated by residential property financing grew further due to the strong demand seen in the property market. Nevertheless, competitive pressures in the German private property financing sector remained undimin- ished. The Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken Cooperative Financial Network was also well positioned to face this environment in 2011. Based on information provided by the German Associa- tion of Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken (BVR), the Financial Network’s share of residential property financing transactions grew at a faster pace than the overall market. The reasons for this remain unchanged: customers value trustworthy financ- ing partners that can offer safe financing and provide high quality advice. “German residential property was highly sought after as a safe capital investment as well as for owner-occu- pied purposes.” Residential property – international Development of the residential property markets outside of Germany was burdened by the rather weak economy in the rest of Europe and rising pressures to tighten government spending in many EU member states. The volume of transactions remained at quite a low level, espe- cially in the UK and France where demand for houses and Source: German Federal Statistics Office, www.destatis.de, 2011 = estimated Residential Building Permits in Germany 2000 – 2011Figures in 000 500 400 300 200 100 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 291 274 349 297 269 240 248 182 175 178 188 220