Vacancies in the center, growth on the outskirts
Do you possibly live in a "doughnut village"? This term describes rural villages or suburbs in which the town centers are increasingly threatened by vacancy and are falling into disrepair. At the same time, new development areas and new facilities such as shopping facilities, doctors' surgeries or retail parks are being built on the outskirts. This leads to a structural emptying of the village center - comparable to a hole in a donut.
Vacancies reduce attractiveness and lead to further problems in the real estate market due to a lack of central locations. Real estate data from Nexiga helps with planning.
Almost 2 million empty apartments
To counteract this trend, many municipalities are focusing on the renovation of old buildings, the conversion of vacant properties and other measures to revitalize town centers.
While donut villages are characterized by contrasting developments in different districts, there are also settlements that are losing their overall appeal. There are currently almost two million vacant apartments across Germany, with a vacancy rate of around 4.5 percent. Structurally weak regions in eastern and western Germany are particularly affected, including northern Bavaria, the Erzgebirge, eastern Harz and the Vulkaneifel, as reported by Handelsblatt.
But even in Berlin, the vacancy rate is 2 percent. At the same time, the housing situation in the capital, as in many other metropolitan regions, is very tight overall. The federal government has therefore presented a strategy for reactivating vacant apartments. The aim is to strengthen these areas as attractive places to live. Measures include support programs such as "Young buys old" or "Make two out of old", in which larger single-family homes are converted into smaller residential units. The strategy is also based on data from the 2022 census.
Overall, demand for new residential construction is significantly outstripping supply.
What are the causes?
There are many reasons for the phenomenon of donut villages:
- Often due to demographic change or economic structural change, there is migration and vacancies in the town centers.
- Old town centers are becoming unattractive as modernization costs there are high. This leads to a lack of attractiveness and a refurbishment backlog
- New buildings are preferably built on the outskirts of towns, where larger plots of land are available and building regulations are less stringent. This leads to urban sprawl.
- People therefore usually prefer to move to outlying areas with parking spaces and good transport links than to narrow, old town centers.
Stagnating new residential construction
New residential construction in Germany has been in decline for several years. Around 260,100 apartments were approved in 2023, which corresponds to a decline of 26.6% compared to 2022.
Regional differences are clearly recognizable. In sparsely populated rural districts, around 12 detached and semi-detached houses were approved per 10,000 inhabitants in 2023, which corresponds to a decrease of around 43% compared to the previous year. Overall, it can be seen that the number of building permits in Germany is falling across the board, with rural regions being particularly affected.
Completion of residential buildings
Our map (PDF) shows the characteristic "Construction completion of new residential buildings" at the level of the municipalities for the Vulkaneifel region, located north of the Moselle with towns such as Daun, Ulmen and Mendig. In absolute terms, the number of newly completed residential buildings is very manageable; in many municipalities, these are mostly residential buildings with one residential unit, i.e. generally single-family houses.
You can find the construction activity feature in our database search.
Use of real estate data
The data package "Housing stock" and "Completion of new residential buildings" shows only a part of the Nexiga data portfolio for the real estate sector.
- Planners can use this data to guide the development of cities and regions, e.g. by identifying areas with a high demand for housing or planning infrastructure projects in the areas of energy or fiber optic expansion.
- This data is also important for the planning of environmentally friendly and energy-efficient buildings, as it provides information about the current building stock and its energy properties.
- Real estate companies and investors can use the data to analyze market trends and make informed decisions about investments in residential and non-residential buildings.
- This data helps local authorities to plan and implement housing policy measures, such as the promotion of housing construction projects or the development of strategies to combat housing shortages.
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Evaluating real estate
The credo "location, location, location" is supported by the use of relevant data for many issues. Targeted data analysis provides real estate agents, project developers, housing associations and investors with valuable information about existing or planned projects. This allows properties and their locations to be assessed precisely.
