August 18th, 2016
BERLIN RIVER Building
Number of ‘Berliners’ keep increasing
After nearly 30 years no-growth -or even negative population growth- the number of Berliners is now actually increasing. For those thinking of buying property in Berlin, the impact of millennials and other demographically driven demand bodes well for the Berlin housing market for the next decade.
Berlin is the 2nd most populous city in the EU, as calculated by city-proper population – and not by area. The population of Berlin as of 31st December 2015 was officially 3 610 156 – of which 1 779 319 were male and 1 830 837 female.
Population growth rate or ‘PGR’ is the increase in a nation’s population during a certain period of time, usually a year and is an important demographic indicator for real estate investors. It is expressed as a percentage of the population at the start of that period and duly reflects the number of births and deaths during this time period and also the number of people moving into the city from abroad.
Berlin demographics positive for Property investors
Germans are by nature a formally exact and a fastidious nation when it comes to public statistics, it has even forecast and predicted Berlin demographics up until the year 2030.
However even German statistics can sometimes be deceiving and misleading.
Last year, ‘Die Welt’ reported that Berlin’s senator responsible for city development, let it be known that the city administration previous prognosis that a population increase of 250,000 over 2011’s figure would now be achieved by 2019, rather than 2030 as previously expected.
To prognosticate like this is really what municipal authorities are supposed to do, so nothing too new here. However Berlin is a bit of a special case with the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, the inflow of many foreign businesses and their employees moving into the city, along with the recent influx of refugees, which means that all these well-meaning and scientifically organized Berlin statistics have gone somewhat askew.
Berlin’s population has grown by circa 8% over the last five years, however the number of apartments in the city has only increased by around 2 %. What would have seemed impossible years ago, has now occurred – namely that Berlin has joined the other major German cities of München, Hamburg, and Stuttgart with housing shortages.
We have written about buying property in Berlin’s popular districts of Prenzlauer Berg, Mitte and Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg districts on this blog in the past.
Berlin population by area and the historical development of Berlin’s population can be found here.