Immobilien: Hohe Zinsen bremsen den Immobilienmarkt: Wo Verkäufer besonders lange auf Käufer warten

With high interest rates, the real estate market in Germany is facing challenges, as houses and apartments are not selling quickly in all regions. While some areas have properties disappearing from listings in just a short time, others see them remaining available for nearly nine weeks. This is revealed by an analysis by the real estate broker Hausgold, which was exclusively shared with the Handelsblatt.

The study examined the average duration for which residential properties, single-family houses, and semi-detached houses were listed for sale in the first five months of 2026. The differences were significant, with properties staying on the market almost three times longer in the slowest markets compared to the fastest ones. When looking at Germany's seven largest cities, including Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Munich, variations in the time properties stay on the market were notable, even in the prosperous "Top-7" metropolises known for their high property prices.

In Düsseldorf, sellers had to wait the longest, with properties staying listed for an average of 6.2 weeks. Slightly behind was Berlin, with 6.1 weeks, and Hamburg, where it took an average of 5.9 weeks. Munich was the quickest, with an average of five weeks, while in Cologne and Frankfurt am Main, it took 5.8 weeks. However, Munich stood out by being particularly swift, with a difference of nearly eight days compared to Düsseldorf.

"The real estate market is currently more selective than it has been in recent years," said Hausgold CEO Sebastian Wagner. Buyers were being more selective, comparing offers, and considering potential renovation costs. Yet, the data also showed that lengthy listing times are not exclusive to large cities or rural areas. Where patience is particularly sought after, the differences at the municipal level, across the roughly 400 German districts and non-metropolitan cities, are even more pronounced.

The worst record belongs to the municipality of Zweibrücken in Rhineland-Palatinate, where properties remain on the market for an average of 8.8 weeks. Second place goes to Cottbus in Brandenburg, with 8.5 weeks. In the Thuringian district of Hildburghausen, it's 8.4 weeks. Other municipalities with comparatively long listing times include Eisenach with eight weeks, Suhl, and the districts of Kaiserslautern and Südwestpfalz, each with 7.8 weeks.

In these areas, sellers have little patience. At the other end of the spectrum is the district of Neumarkt in the Oberpfalz, where property listings are online for an average of just 3.1 weeks, the lowest value in the entire analysis. Other municipalities with particularly short listing times include the Franconian city of Hof with 3.7 weeks, and Frankenthal in Rhineland-Palatinate with 3.8 weeks.

Bamberg and the Regen district both have four-week listing periods, indicating regions with very short advertising durations. It's important to note that the Hausgold-determined listing duration only measures how long an advertisement remains published, not whether the property was eventually sold at what price or if the seller withdrew the listing.

Nevertheless, the results indicate that particularly in parts of Rhineland-Palatinate, Thuringia, and Brandenburg, longer listing times are observed. Even the city of Chemnitz in Saxony appears among the markets where sellers have to wait comparatively long for their listings to end. Interestingly, Bavarian cities and districts are strongly represented among the fastest real estate markets.

Alongside Neumarkt, Hof, Bamberg, and Regen, other Bavarian locations such as Schweinfurt, Ingolstadt, Kempten, and Kaufbeuren are among the lower-ranked regions. The recently presented rental index from the Kiel World Economic Institute (IfW) also noted a longer listing period in large metropolitan areas for rental properties. "Newly built apartments in major cities are among the most expensive rental offerings on the rental market," said Jonas Zdrzalek, an real estate expert from the IfW.

At these prices, only a smaller segment of households qualifies as renters, which could prolong the market. However, the Hausgold list also shows that short listing times are not limited to economically strong or particularly expensive regions. Mansfeld-Südharz and Kyffhäuserkreis in Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia, are two regions that also rank among the fastest markets.

Across all entries in the district analysis, the average listing duration comes out to be around 5.9 weeks.