Dienstag, 24. Juni 2008

Berlin Property Changing

The city of Berlin is reinvigorating its city center, creating urban spaces where people can work and live without having to travel long distances, and without having to pay huge sums of money for the privilege. Townhouses are at the heart of this urban renaissance in the German capital, and there are currently as many as five projects under way or recently completed, according to a recent article in the International Herald Tribune

The townhouses, designed after New York brownstones and Kensington row houses, are being constructed mostly around the neighborhoods of Prenzlauer Berg and Mitte. The Prenzlauer Gardens is one such development, and it opened to residents last fall. The homes and the neighborhood are family friendly, inviting young couples with kids to settle down.

This particular project was constructed on what was once a brewery, and now consists of 61 townhouses and 49 apartments. According to Wile Gopel, with the development company Urban Spaces, sales have averaged more than €400,000 and all the units are sold out. “People no longer want to miss out on living in the city center,” he noted.

One of the principal movers for the downtown redevelopment was Hans Stimmann, who was Berlin’s building director. In 2002 he set aside 1.4 hectares for townhouses in the Mitte neighborhood at the heart of the city. While the move was controversial at the time, it is certainly paying off with a flurry of new homes in a three-block area called the Berlin Townhouses . By the end of 2008 there will be 54 homes, with prices ranging from €600,000 to €1 million.

Other new developments include Kastaniengärten in Prenzlauer Berg, with two-level homes and townhouses, and the Puccini Hofgärten, a mix of pre-war apartment buildings, lofts and townhouses in the east Berlin neighborhood of Weissensee. These popular homes have long been a staple of life in major cities and now they are helping to remake Berlin.

Berlin has kept low property prices while prices all around the world have been steadily increasing. Berlin offers low entry level compared to other cities around the world , investors are attracted to its strong rental market . Property prices expected to rise fast over the next 5 years.

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