UGLOBAL.COM
21
INCREASING REAL ESTATE PRICES
Nowhere else in the European Union are real estate
prices rising more sharply than in Germany. According to
experts, this development is attributable to the monetary
policy of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the move
to the big cities. For example, the ECB's zero interest
rate policy makes financing cheaper. However, the low
interest rates continue to make investment opportunities
less attractive. The result is that much more is invested
in real estate. Even from abroad, a lot of money flows into
German real estate. Large cities such as Berlin, Munich
and Hamburg are particularly attractive for investors.
Even though people warn about a price bubble on
the housing markets of German metropolitan areas,
rising prices for condominiums don’t seem to change
anytime soon. After all, people will continue to move
into prospering metropolitan regions. The dynamic price
development on the real estate market will most likely
continue, according to a recent survey of 600 real estate
experts in Germany. They expect prices to rise by 3 to 5
percent by the end of the year.
1
DOES GERMANY HAVE
A GOLDEN VISA PROGRAM?
Golden Visas grant citizenship or resident permits
in exchange for money from third-country nationals.
Such programs already exist in 14 EU member-states.
Transparency International and Global Witness, when
presenting their repor t in Brussels, called for more
transparency and caution when issuing such visas. Valid
and binding rules throughout the EU are needed. At least
6,000 passports and almost 100,000 resident permits have
been issued in the EU in the last 10 years. The European
Commission has called on the member-states to exercise
more restraint in trading passports.
In Germany, there is basically no possibility to obtain a
resident permit or even a German passport by investing
in state funds or by buying real estate. However, there is a
possibility to obtain a resident permit in Germany for wealthy
applicants. This right results from special permission
according to § 7 AufenthG. The court case law in recent
years has regularly argued in favor of granting a resident
permit for wealthy foreigners who wish to settle to Germany.
THE APPLICANT'S ASSETS
The most important factor here is the client's assets. The
exception, according to § 7 AufentG, can only be applied to
very wealthy clients. In addition, the client has no legal claim.
This is a discretionary provision in which each individual
case is examined separately by the authorities.
It is generally agreed that a wealthy foreigner who comes to
Germany to live from his or her assets is one of the cases of
the act's applicability in which the granting a residence title
1