Real Estate in Germany in the context of public policy, is from its sheer magnitude a
topic of utmost relevance to government, economy, society as well as to property researchers
in general and especially urban economists. Hardly any industry is larger in
Germany than the real estate industry, which is, depending on the definition, the largest
of all sectors with more than 50 per cent of all loans secured by real estate and of the
app. 10 bn. EUR of private German total assets, 55 per cent allocated to property, thereof
65 per cent to residential property.
As these facts are hardly known to the public, the finance crisis (which had been caused
by the subprime crisis with its catalyst of the residential market of the United States) has
presented to a broad audience since 2007, which leading role real estate plays by having
severe primary effects as well as subsequent secondary and tertiary effects. The reason
for this is that real estate serves in the world’s leading countries as the dominant, nearly
non-substitutable collateral in the private and public debt business and, thus, connects
private and public debt and equity markets.