"People are prepared to be available not eight, but ten to twelve hours a day - digitally and spread throughout the day. This change is strengthening the focus on more flexibility at work: the desire for quality of life in nature and conscious periods of relaxation during working hours is shifting the centre of many people's lives to the gates of Berlin and their homes with land." Günter Th. Fischer, Managing Director at Engel & Völkers Berlin & Potsdam. A process that shows a real trend towards country living and thus puts rural areas more than ever in the foreground as a residential location. Visions, such as the detached house with its own garden in the immediate vicinity of forests and lakes, have been emerging for years.

We are now seeing further trends towards nature, including in relation to second homes, weekend properties and holiday homes - especially near water. The current situation has led to a significant increase in demand in the periphery of nearby large metropolises. Over the past five years, property prices in the surrounding municipalities have in some cases risen even more sharply than in major cities. From 2015 to 2020, asking prices in the surrounding areas rose by an average of 57.8 per cent - compared to just 43.9 per cent in the top 7 cities. Prices in the Berlin suburbs grew the most. At an average of 78.2 per cent, prices in the surrounding municipalities rose even more sharply than in the capital (+59.8 per cent). The highest price growth was recorded in municipalities in the Märkisch-Oderland district to the north-east of Berlin: Here alone, prices more than doubled in eight municipalities.

Landlust based on examples in the Berlin area

This development is also clearly reflected in the standard land values in Brandenburg. In Potsdam Mittelmark, for example, these have never risen as much as they did from 2020 to 2021 compared to the previous year, according to the latest report by the expert committee for land values in the district of Potsdam. The highest prices for residential building land are achieved primarily in the municipalities around Potsdam and near Berlin. The most expensive region is and remains the municipality of Kleinmachnow with a standard land value of up to €900/m². However, the highest absolute increases compared to the previous year were recorded for locations in Michendorf with an increase of €40 to €130 and in Teltow with an increase of €20 to €130 per square metre.

In the district of Havelland, the standard land values for residential land have also risen sharply by around 20% - this also emerges from the report of the expert committee for property values in the district of Havelland. Similar to Falkensee, for example, where prices have more than doubled in the last 5 years, the figures have also risen sharply in neighbouring Nauen and Ketzin. In the urban areas of Nauen and Ketzin/Havel, the standard land values of sought-after building plots have risen by an average of 25 to 30 per cent, bringing the prices of building land closer to those in the surrounding areas of Berlin. In Ketzin/Havel, the guide value for individual residential building land is now between 220 and 240 euros/square metre and in the south and west of Nauen between 280 and 310 euros/square metre.