【World Property Journal】Housing Rents Continue to Rise in Most European Cities in Q4

Housing Rents Continue to Rise in Most European Cities in Q4

Yet rents dip in expensive markets like London, Amsterdam and Munich

According to HousingAnywhere's latest International Rent Index, a rise in residential rents continued across Europe in Q4 of 2019, yet rents did decelerated in the more expensive cities such as London, Amsterdam and Munich.

This hasn't been the case for cities that are cheaper by comparison. These typically cheaper cities have seen a steep rental growth in the past year, most notably; Berlin, Barcelona, Madrid, Vienna, and Brussels. "The Q4 report reflects what we have been observing for a while now," says Djordy Seelmann, CEO of HousingAnywhere. "It will be interesting to see if a ceiling will be reached in 2020 for the most expensive European cities, and which lower-priced cities will catch up to the more expensive ones. The housing shortage certainly remains as pressing as it has been in past years."

Working towards effective solutions

The European political landscape is quite unstable at present, with political issues weighing down the performance of the real estate industry. Seelmann: "Current governmental initiatives are focused on applying stricter control of the domestic real estate sector, instead of encouraging the much-needed development of new accommodation. Rent controls, as seen in Berlin and the Netherlands, are a way of dealing with housing affordability in the short term. They are, however, counterproductive, and add risk to residential investment while failing to add more accommodation."  Read more......

» London Edition | By Michael Gerrity | January 10, 2020 9:00 AM ET