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German Home Prices fell 10.2% in Q3'23

The rise in interest rates and construction costs hammered down German property prices.

• It's the biggest decline in house prices in Germany since 2010.
• Austrian real estate company "Signa," filed for insolvency. It's the parent company of the "Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof department store chain."
• If you plan to buy a house in Germany, you should negotiate hard to bring down the property's price. It's because some private sellers still don't want to accept the reality.

Buying a property in Germany is a big decision. You should know about the German bureaucracy, how to get a mortgage, inspect a property, etc.

To smooth your home-buying journey, we wrote a book with everything you must know about buying a house in Germany. Download your copy today.

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Interest rates are stabilizing - What does it mean?

After increasing the interest rates 10 times in a row, the European Central Bank has stopped raising the interest rates twice now. Here are a few things you can do with this information.

• We can assume that the central bank doesn't want to increase the interest rates further in the near term.
• With declining property prices and stable interest, you could consider buying a property in Germany. We packed all the information you need to buy a house in Germany in our book. Get your copy today (Kindle or PDF).
• As the ECB raised interest rates, the interest on savings accounts also increased. But now, with ECB interest rates stable, the interest on your savings is also. So, open a fixed deposit and start earning interest if you haven't yet. Currently, you can get up to 4.2% interest on your savings. You can check offers from different banks here*.
• The interest rate on your savings is usually lower than inflation. It means the value of your money is reducing with time. Hence, start investing your money in the stock market. You can open a free depot account with Scalable Capital* orFinazen.net Zero* and start investing.

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Tax and child allowances will increase in 2024

The basic tax allowance will increase from 10,908 € to 11,604 € for single people. It will increase to 23,208 € for married people.

You pay tax on the income above the basic allowance. If your income is less than or equal to the basic allowance, you don't pay any tax in Germany.

The child allowance (Kinderfreibetrag in German) will increase from 8,952 € to 9,312 € per child.

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Shorter tax deadline in 2024

The deadline to file the income tax return in 2024 is 2nd September instead of 2nd October. It means you must submit the tax return a month earlier than before.

Read our guide on how to save taxes in Germany to learn more tax-saving tips.

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