Tuesday, November 30th, 2021
Make up a third of the rent
IW study shows price differentials for ancillary costs
The German cities with the highest rents are known. A hidden factor in ancillary costs is less common: the “cold operating costs”, for example for garbage collection or property tax, vary widely across the country. A study shows the most expensive and cheapest circles.
Ancillary costs can drive rents up significantly, but according to a study, there are big differences in billing. The reason for the gap among the 401 rural districts and urban districts in Germany are particularly differences in the so-called cold operating costs, which include municipal fees and taxes. That shows a Analysis of the Institut der Deutschen Wirtschaft (IW). According to this, tenants paid an average of EUR 1.09 per square meter of living space for heating and hot water in 2019.
In addition, there were cold operating costs that cover the costs of homeowners such as insurance and building cleaning, as well as municipal costs such as property tax or garbage and sewage charges. In 2019 they exceeded an average of one euro for the first time. The costs differed widely depending on the size of the city and municipality: in large cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants, tenants paid an average of 1.28 euros per square meter for the cold operating costs, in smaller municipalities it was around 70 cents.
Nationwide, the total ancillary costs range from 3.30 euros per square meter of living space in Memmingen im Allgäu to 1.86 euros in Dingolfing-Landau (Lower Bavaria). The most expensive districts include Frankfurt am Main and Munich (3.08 euros each), two metropolises. The additional costs are also high in Offenbach and Mönchengladbach with a good 3 euros. In contrast, they are low in the Emsland and the districts of Cochem-Zell, Trier-Saarburg and the Eifel district of Bitburg-Prüm.
Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg: countries with the highest ancillary costs
The federal states with the highest ancillary costs are the city states of Berlin (2.87 euros), Bremen (2.79) and Hamburg (2.75), followed by Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. In the eastern German federal states and Rhineland-Palatinate, the additional costs are cheaper: In Rhineland-Palatinate they averaged 2.29 euros, in Saxony-Anhalt 2.27 euros and in Thuringia 2.22 euros per square meter.
Ancillary costs are often a point of contention between tenants and landlords and are charged retrospectively. The German Tenants’ Association is currently working on a nationwide analysis for 2020. The ancillary costs increase the total rent by an average of 32 percent, according to the current study, which was carried out on behalf of the real estate company Deutsche Invest Immobilien. In favorable residential areas, the effect is even up to 50 percent. But even in metropolitan regions that are already expensive, ancillary costs can drive up rent noticeably.
“Municipalities have a lot of room for maneuver”
Renters should therefore carefully examine advertisements, advises IW real estate expert Michael Voigtländer. “A favorable basic rent level can initially be tempting and make an apartment appear attractive. However, if this is accompanied by exceptionally high ancillary costs, this cost advantage can quickly vanish.” When it comes to the amount of ancillary costs, the federal government and municipalities have a lot of leeway in some cases, says Voigtländer.
The cold operating costs should “not serve as a source of refinancing for municipal budgets”. At the same time, the energy efficiency of buildings plays a major role. In 2020, heating costs in new apartments were almost nine percent lower than in old buildings. In the interests of climate neutrality, the necessary modernization costs should therefore not become an additional burden for tenants and landlords, demanded Voigtländer.