KIEL (dpa-AFX) - Is buying your own home becoming more expensive again? The Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) is certainly registering a turnaround on the German real estate market. Prices for condominiums, single-family homes and apartment buildings rose between April and June compared to the previous quarter, the IfW reported.

"The trend reversal on the real estate market has begun," said IfW researcher Jonas Zdrzalek. According to the researcher, uncertainty among potential buyers is clearly decreasing and the prospect of falling interest rates is stabilizing the market. The slump in new construction is also reducing supply and leading to rising prices.

Compared to the first three months of the year, prices for condominiums rose by 2.4 percent in the second quarter. Single-family homes cost two percent more. Prices for apartment buildings rose by 4.4 percent. Prices had still fallen in the previous quarter. The figures are based on the Greix real estate price index, which contains data from 19 cities and the Rhein-Erft district near Koln. The IfW is one of the organizations involved in Greix.

Rising prices in Hamburg, falling prices in Koln

Among Germany's seven most populous cities, prices for owner-occupied apartments rose the most in Hamburg (4.3 percent), Frankfurt (3.7 percent) and Düsseldorf (2.2 percent) compared to the previous quarter. In Stuttgart, apartments became 0.6 percent more expensive. In Koln, prices fell by 0.6 percent. No current data was available for Berlin and Munich. Outside the category of the seven most populous cities, prices for condominiums rose significantly in Münster - by 5.6 percent.

End of correction possible

The IfW believes it is possible that a correction on the real estate market will end after around two years. A correction is usually understood to be a downward movement of an index, for example, which corrects over-inflated values. Greix recorded a price decline of around 14 percent in around two years, according to the IfW. The correction was strongest in Stuttgart, where prices fell by more than 20 percent./lkm/DP/zb