LEG Housing Market Report NRW 2012

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Economic structure Gelsenkirchen is being affected by the no vote on the expansion of the B 224 to create the A 52. According to the local chamber of commerce, the decision by the residents of Gladbeck will have an adverse effect on urban development throughout the region. A further obstacle for the city is the fact that it has the highest unemployment rate in North Rhine-Westphalia. However, progress is being made when it comes to the process of structural change. Coal and steel have been replaced by a number of new sectors, although metal processing still plays an important part in the local economy. Around 8,000 Gelsenkirchen residents are employed in the metal industry or related areas – almost one-third of all manufacturing employees. Another pillar of the economy is the chemicals industry: Gelsenkirchen is one of the 10 most important locations in Western Europe for basic chemicals. The ultrapure petrochemical materials developed in the city are used in many areas of daily life. Demographic development is also giving a boost to Gelsenkirchen’s healthcare industry, with hospitals, doctors’ practices and long-term care services all in demand. Rent according to postcode for units in apartment buildings in €/m 2 /month 4.89 – 5.33 4.88 – 4.88 4.80 – 4.87 4.77 – 4.79 4.75 – 4.76 4.74 – 4.74 4.69 – 4.73 4.62 – 4.68 Nineteen percent of all employees work in this sector. The city’s location means it is also interesting for logistics service providers. Gelsenkirchen can boast four highways with 10 junctions and the Rhine-Herne Canal, the canal port with the highest turnover. This coal mining city is also focusing on future-oriented technologies as a center for solar technology, with the SolarWorld solar cell factory situated in the Schalke area of the city. This is a location with a long tradition: Schalke is not only home to the top soccer team of the same name, but was also a regional center for coal mining. LEG Housing Market Report NRW 2012 | 85
Gelsenkirchen Falling unemployment leads to slight rise in purchasing power Gelsenkirchen is particularly wellknown throughout Germany as the home of the soccer club Schalke 04 – but the former coal mining center has plenty of other things to attract visitors. The “Zoom Erlebniswelt”, for example: The former Ruhr Zoo is now home to a wide variety of exotic animals on a 25-hectare site, almost 40 times the size of the Veltins Arena used by the Schalke team. Just like many other cities, however, Gelsenkirchen will have to come to terms with further population decline despite these attractive leisure options. According to forecasts, the city will lose almost 8 percent of its just under 258,000 inhabitants and around 131,000 households between now and 2025. As such, dismantling will certainly have to play a part in the future development of the city. Living space to meet new demands Accessible apartments and intergenerational houses already account for a certain proportion of new construction activity. In 2010, 332 new residential units were approved – 99 more than in the previous year. At 229, the number of completions was largely on a level with the previous year (236). Once known as the “city of a thousand fires”, Gelsenkirchen is still grappling with the economic consequences of structural change. The city continues to have the highest unem- Housing stock data 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Vacancy rate in % Permits for new buildings Finished apartments Housing stock Housing stock in apartment buildings Source: empirica (vacancy), NRW Statistics Office, compiled by CBRE 86 | LEG Housing Market Report NRW 2012 ployment rate of all the cities and districts of North Rhine-Westphalia included in this report. However, the figure has fallen sharply over recent years. Unemployment was still as high as 23.4 percent in 2005. Fast forward six years and the unemployment rate had dropped by almost 10 percentage points to 14.2 percent. With chemicals, metal processing, energy and healthcare, the Ruhr city is doing everything in its power to find its feet – including prioritizing education and training. Gelsenkirchen University of Applied Sciences, which has faculties in Bocholt and Recklinghausen, has a good reputation in the university landscape of North Rhine- Westphalia. Another key element of the local qualification campaign is Hans Schwier Vocational College, which is home to all of the students in the state studying professions with only a small number of trainees. Despite growth over recent years, Gelsenkirchen remains one of the cities with the lowest purchasing power in North Rhine- Westphalia: Residents have average annual income of €17,214 per capita. With average rents also low, however, the housing cost burden is moderate. Rental properties in the lower market segment in demand Rental development in Gelsenkirchen was inconsistent in 2011. Across the city as a whole, asking rents for apartments were 0.6 percent lower than in the previous year, with newly advertised properties commanding an average of €4.75 per square meter per month. By contrast, apartments in the lower market segment were significantly more expensive than in the previous year. At €3.81 per square meter per month, tenants had to pay almost 20 cents more for a newly advertised apartment than in 2010 – a rise of 5.2 percent. Although prices fell by 2.2 percent in the period from 2009 to 2010, this ultimately means that affordable housing is now more expensive than it was two years ago. In the upper market segment, the trend of falling rents that began in the previous year continued, with the average asking rent declining by 6.4 percent to €6.03 per square meter. Postcode area 45894 (Buer) is a special case. Asking rents per square meter in the upper market segment are around the €8 mark, significantly higher than the other postcode areas. At €3,358, however, households in Buer also have easily the highest purchasing power in the city, meaning that they can cope with corresponding rents and they have a housing cost ratio of just 17.5 percent. Compared with 2009, average rents in six of the 13 postcode areas are now higher, while prospective new tenants pay less in five of the postcode areas. In the other two 3.4 3.6 3.3 3.5 3.9 4.8 n/a 381 395 256 159 205 233 332 256 348 517 198 172 236 229 141,214 141,535 142,030 142,069 142,175 142,285 142,506 84.5 84.4 84.3 84.2 84.2 84.2 84.1
Page 1 and 2: LEG Housing Market Report NRW 2012
Page 3: Gelsenkirchen A city that continues
Page 7 and 8: Gelsenkirchen Housing market, cost,
Page 9 and 10: DIRECTORY OF SOURCES Federal Labor
Page 11: MASTHEAD Publisher: LEG Management

LEG Housing Market Report NRW 2012

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?