Real estate market: Hausbau 2022 - High real estate interest and construction costs

Anyone who had hoped that the boom in the real estate prices in 2021 was somewhat disappointed.The demand remained high, interest rates were low - and there was even another price driver: building material was scarce and thus more expensive.

We very much meet the private building owner, shows a current survey by the credit broker Interhyp.Three out of four surveyed customers who completed a building finance through the provider last year stated that the explosion in the construction costs made them strongly or very strongly.Most report that their construction projects have become 10 to 20 percent more expensive, each fourth had to accept even greater cost increases.

Especially for wood, the house builders had to dig deeper into their pockets, to a lesser extent, the shortcomings were also felt in insulation material or glass.More than every second reports that construction phases are delayed due to delivery bottlenecks.And almost half declared that it is completely foregoneing for certain projects such as garage, carport, solar system or fireplace for the time being.

2022 becomes more expensive

The trend that is unpleasant to builders should also continue in the new year."We expect the price spiral to continue to turn up in 2022," says Mirjam Mohr, Interhyp director of the private customer business.And the construction industry itself also expects it to become more expensive."There is no all-clear, the construction prices will continue to rise," said Reinhard Quast, President of the ZDB building trade association recently of the dpa.According to the quast steel and concrete, rising energy prices make it more expensive, and the increase in the statutory minimum wage ensures higher wage costs and many specialists in construction are anyway.

How much interest rates rise?

In addition to the construction costs, it is also important to keep an eye on interest rates.Most experts expect that the still very cheap real estate loans will be more expensive this year."The recently braked increase in the construction interest through the new Corona uncertainties will resume speed in the coming year-especially if the incidence removes in spring and prevails more security and confidence in the economic development," says Interhyp-Leader Mohr.

At the beginning of the year, Interhyp interviewed ten credit institutions and everyone can expect rising real estate interest for this year.The interest rate for a real estate loan at ten years is currently around one percent, about 0.3 percentage points more than a year ago.For 2022, Mohr "expects a slight but noticeable increase in construction interest in the area of several tenth percentage points".Michael Neumann, head of the construction financier DR, also expects a slight upward trend in interest rates.Small.And Max Herbst from FMH financial advice expects construction finance in 2022 by 0.25 to 0.5 percentage points more expensive.

Pay attention to terms and deadlines

In order to benefit from the currently favorable conditions, experts currently advise real estate buyers to loan with long interest rate periods of 15 to 20 years.During this period, borrowers are safe from rising interest rates.

In view of possible delays in the construction project, builders should also pay attention to another period: the deployment interest -free time.This is the period in which the bank has an agreed loan to call without requesting extra interest."We now see that twelve months often are not sufficient and, depending on the construction project, even recommend up to 24 months if the banks support this," says Interhyp-Manager Mohr.

The biggest hurdle for real estate buyers and house builders remains, however, to raise enough equity at all in order to be able to pay enormous prices in many places.