Berlin Properties Friedrichshain 2023

A bridge from east to west

In Friedrichshain past and present, east and west, modern and tradition meet. Whether old storehouses and cold stores along the banks of the Spree, Stalin constructions lining the Karl-Marx-Alle or prefab housing: Friedrichshain offers all types of residential and commercial real estate. The district is made of lively and popular inner-city quarters across all locations and typologies. Young people love the vibrant cultural scene and the many Bars and Cafés. The former working-class district was badly damaged during the Second World War. After revitalisation it is now one of Berlin's most popular districts not only for residents. The East Side Gallery, a 1.3 km section of the Berlin Wall, is visited by thousands of tourists. And a good part of the Berlins club scene is home in Friedrichshain. Street markets, vintage shops and independent boutiques, make Friedrichshain a popular destination for shopping and dining. Friedrichshain is a blend of diversity, history, culture and creativity. It is Berlin today.

Property prices in Friedrichshain

In Friedrichshain, the market is predominantly made up of properties built between 1900 and 1920. The price line between existing and new buildings is relatively sharp and is in the region of 7,000 euros/m². Interestingly, there is less overlap between new and old buildings than in other districts. The building year class from 1950 to 1978 plays a minor role, as most properties from this period are municipal stocks. In the inventory segment, property prices in Friedrichshain have risen by about 135.50 % over the past 10 years. Those who bought a property in Friedrichshain in the comparable period 10 years ago paid an average of around 2,610 EUR/m². The current asking prices for flat sales in Friedrichshain are around 6,150 EUR/m² for existing flats and around 9,400 EUR/m² for new-build flats. 

Development of property price segments in Berlin Friedrichshain

The housing supply in Friedrichshain is declining overall.  About 2,030 apartments were offered in the 12-month period. The price segment of 2,000 - 4,000 EUR/m² has stabilized, at the same time the number of offers in the segment of 4,000 - 6,000 EUR/m² has increased. In the new housing segment, about 440 units were offered in the 12-month period. The average list price for condominiums in new building projects in Friedrichshain is about 9,280 EUR/m². 

Bird's eye view: Property Prices in Berlin Friedrichshain

The Bubble Chart shows the supply situation of the last 12 months on the property market in Friedrichshain. The colors mark the year of construction classes, the size of the bubbles the quantity of offers, the location in the coordinate system price radius (square meters) and apartment sizes.

Trend

The growth in Friedrichshain will continue in 2023, but the linear price development will give way to a plateau movement. Prices rise, move sideways for a while, and then rise again. The price driver is demand. The housing deficit is high in almost all neighbourhoods and largest in the streets around Boxhagener Platz, the Samariterviertel and Traveplatz. Net migration is very high, with an increase of 3,200 new residents (as of 2021). Overall, Friedrichshain has the youngest population in the south-east and is somewhat older in the west, in the neighbourhood along Andreasstraße. The district benefits greatly from the influx of young, well-educated buyers from other Western European countries, who contribute to rising household incomes in Friedrichshain and also stimulate acceptance of home ownership in the district. Besides the central neighbourhoods that are in high demand from young buyers, the locations north of Frankfurter Allee are also developing well. Price overruns are currently stuck for longer or have to be brought down to the accepted price range. In 2022, this was the case for about 20 per cent of the units on offer. Overall, listings are increasing slightly in terms of quantity. We see considerable value potential for Friedrichshain in the coming years. 

Apartment buildings in Friedrichshain

The housing stock in Friedrichshain amounts to around 4,400 residential buildings. The first wave of modernisation and new construction took place around the turn of the millennium, often with the help of public IBB subsidies. The wave of redevelopment not only saved many apartment blocks that had fallen into complete decay and were uninhabitable, but was also the initial impulse for the development of today's trendy and internationalised neighbourhoods around the Samariterkirche, Boxhagener Platz and elsewhere. In some cases, the returns remained below the profitability threshold. At the same time, it was still possible in 2006 to buy apartment blocks in Friedrichshain at prices of less than 1,000 EUR per square metre. At this time, many owners parted with apartment blocks in Friedrichshain neighbourhoods, some of which were heavily eroded. The market tipped over into oversupply and the buildings changed hands several times till the 2010s at sometimes very low prices per square metre and factors. In the period from 2003 till 2008, many apartment blocks in Friedrichshain were converted to WEG and extensively refurbished. The neighbourhoods east of Warschauer Strasse, north of Karl-Marx-Allee and Frankfurter Allee underwent profound structural change at this time. In the course of the modernisation and subdivision of many houses, the population rejuvenated. Overall, purchase prices in 2022 again differentiated more strongly than before according to location and condition. The number of apartment blocks in Friedrichshain with significant modernisation backlogs is declining despite large-scale milieu protection areas. 

The peak values for MFH in Friedrichshain as at 31.10.2022 were 3,150 EUR/m², but the median is lower. At the same time, the data situation is poor with only 16 registered MFAs with or without a commercial component in Friedrichshain with less than 20 units. We would be happy to advise you on the strategy, value and optimisation of your apartment block in Friedrichshain. 

New construction Friedrichshain

From 2012 forward, new construction activity in Friedrichshain was concentrated in the eastern neighborhoods for a number of years. Construction took place in the Stralauer Kiez and the Stralauer Halbinsel in particular, a total of far more than 1,500 apartments between 2012 and 2020. Activity has now shifted to the western and northern neighborhoods. What is interesting about Friedrichshain is that even in the residential neighborhoods with a high population density, there are still reserves of space available. In eight years, around 1,500 new apartments were built in the Samariterviertel alone as a result of redensification. In the neighborhood around Boxhagener Platz, more land was converted than actually constructed. 

Also in the Samariterviertel, 135 apartments in Kreutziger Strasse near the Samariterstrasse subway station are about to be handed over. Diamona & Harnisch owns a large plot of land at Franz-Mehring-Platz, where the company is planning a small neighborhood with its own local amenities and underground parking.

For about 3 years, construction activity on the north side of the Spree has been impossible to miss. What began as a solitaire with the Mercedes-Benz Arena, formerly known as the O2 Arena, has grown into a large, inner-city quarter with residential and commercial uses. Currently, around 470 apartments are being constructed here at Postbahnhof, in two high-rise buildings called Max & Moritz, with a construction sum above 250 million euros. The 86- and 95-meter-high buildings, each with a 7-story base, will provide 77 boarding house apartments and space for businesses, start-ups, offices, cafés and a daycare center. A new, green square is being created in the center of the site. Further west, the construction of a new mixed-use building on Holzmarktstraße with swimming pool, office, commercial use and student apartments is in the preliminary planning stage by Berlinovo. Pure Living" on Mühlenstrasse opposite East-Side promises to open towards the end of 2022. The target groups in PREMIUM's project on around 12,000 square meters of living space are young creative people, urban professionals and small households.

Another concentration of new construction can be observed in northern Friedrichshain. Two projects by PANDION are forming the basis for a new urban quarter on the site of the "Böhmischem Brauhaus" with around 430 condominiums. Pandion is also active in Friedrichshain in Persiusstrasse / Bödikerstrasse at Ostkreuz, where an office location with over 50,000 sqm in three office buildings will be developed in the coming years (planning phase).

Neighbourhoods in Berlin Friedrichshain

The residential areas in Friedrichshain range from simple locations in the northern Friedrichshain to simple to medium locations in the centre, to good residential areas in the neighborhoods on the Stralau peninsula and in the new city quarters along the Spree. While in the west of Friedrichshain the streets are predominantly shaped by prefabricated buildings, in the east old buildings from the Wilhelminian period prevail. The quarters north and south of the former Stalinist boulevard on Karl-Marx- and Frankfurter Allee are very popular. Most locations in Friedrichshain are characterised by very good transport connections and short distances to neighbouring quarters or central hotspots. The density of restaurants and cafés is high. Very much in demand among international buyers, students and young people are the relevant scene neighborhoods such as Samariter- and Boxhagener-Kiez which is surrounded by the familiar atmosphere of Revaler Straße and the urbanity of Warschauer Straße / Frankfurter Allee. Right next door is the Simon-Dach-Kiez neighborhood with side streets and a high concentration of bars, clubs, pubs and restaurants. 

Rental market in Berlin Friedrichshain

The rents in Friedrichshain have increased over the previous year in all residential areas by about 6.70 % to about 19.10 EUR/m². As already in the past years the offered rents in Friedrichshain differentiate also in 2023 increasingly according to microlocation. New contract rents are higher in the neighbourhoods south of Frankfurter Allee. In the northern direction (Landsberger Allee) and in the western direction (Lichtenberg), the rents on offer fall in relation to the privileged locations. In the new construction segment, various new projects are expected to boost rents. Some projects appeal to a predominantly international audience that does not see rental prices in an inner-city context. The average offered rent in the area of new construction is 25.05 EUR/m². There is currently a flatter price increase for both new lettings in existing and new buildings.

Bird's eye view: Asking rents in Berlin Friedrichshain

The Bubble Chart shows the supply situation of the last 12 months for the property market in Friedrichshain. The colors indicate the year of construction classes, the size of the bubbles the quantity of offers, the location in the coordinate system the price radius (square meters) and apartment sizes.

Development of rental price segments in Berlin Friedrichshain

The chart shows the changes in the price structure of the district based on four price segments. How many flats were offered in the different price segments? The line shows the development of the average asking price per square metre across all apartment types and price segments for unit until year of construction 2016.

Building activity in Friedrichshain

Friedrichshain is an inner city district with a very high density. The housing stock of 75.000 units is spread over 12 statistical planning spaces LOR (Lebensweltlich orientierte Räume). The average apartment size is 68.9 m². Quarters with smaller average apartment sizes can only be found in Mitte and Lichtenberg. The statistical household size in Friedrichshain is 1.60 persons and the calculated household size is 1.80 persons per household.

The building activity in Friedrichshain has been very high since 2014. When and in which quarters (LOR) construction completions were reported, can be seen from the map. (Source: Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg)

Milieu protection in Friedrichshain

As of May 2021, six milieu protection areas have been established in the district in accordance with §172 Para. 1 Sentence 1 No. 2 BauGB. The areas cover a total area of about 344 hectares, which corresponds to about 35.2% of the total area of Friedrichshain district.

In Friedrichshain, another study area is under consideration. It can be assumed that it will be designated.

• Warschauer Strasse (former redevelopment area)

Milieu protection map Friedrichshain

Check in our milieu protection map Berlin whether your property is located in a protection area, an investigation area or a suspected area. Our milieu protection map is continuously revised and updated on basis of the resolutions of the district assemblies (BVV). Please also visit our milieu protection area for further information.

General background in Friedrichshain

Friedrichshain merged with Kreuzberg as part of the 2001 district reform. The position of district mayor is provided by Bündnis 90/ Die Grünen, as well as the resort for construction, planning and facility management. The district's housing policy is increasingly turning against the free market and is making headlines, among other things, through the effective exercise of pre-emptive rights. Projects have a difficult time in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. The processing times are long. Since 2015, the focus of the district has been less on the creation of new housing and more on the purchase of additional stock through pre-emptive purchases.

Structurally Friedrichshain is very heterogeneous. In addition to the large buildings on Frankfurter Allee and prefabricated building sites, well-preserved old building quarters with new construction projects woven into them, e.g. south and north of Frankfurter Allee, predominate. The district is one of the largest supply markets in Berlin. This is partly due to a higher fluctuation of young residents (57% between 18 and 45 years) and partly to larger new construction projects in recent years. Part of the demand overhang is absorbed by increasing household sizes.

Migration in Friedrichshain

Friedrichshain is an increasingly international district. For the fifth year in succession, population growth is fed mainly by international inflows. It can be seen that for years the district has been losing population to other Berlin districts, while internationally and nationally strong population gains have been recorded. As the statistics show, Friedrichshain is very popular among Western European states and the USA.