City neighbourhoods with easy proximity to open space have always held appeal, but they are seeing an upsurge in demand from Amsterdam to Barcelona due to the pandemic. The pandemic has also sharpened the focus of buyers looking for a second home or a permanent remote-working location, nudging them into action in areas such as Sun Valley, Idaho, Mexico’s Puerto Cancún and the Piacentini Hills near Milan.
Every year agents from the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network offices worldwide identify areas to watch in the coming year. Birgit Arntz-Reathi, International Sales and Project Manager of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Rubina Real Estate, spoke about a new promising area in Germany – Potsdam.
Potsdam’s Brandenburger Vorstadt is a “very popular area” due to its amenities. Direct railway service to Berlin, relaxed pace of life and competitive house pкices, said Birgit Arntz-Reathi of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Rubina Real Estate in Berlin. It has leafy streets, period townhouses and is nestled beside Sanssouci Park, which has a rococo castle or the same name (also known as the “Versailles or Germany”) and sprawling green space. The countryside-set city, described as a “raw diamond” by Ms Arntz-Reathi, lies just outside Berlin and has a UNESCO World Heritage-listed complex of palaces and parks and a high-tech business hub. Its “Silicon-Valley-in-the-making” Potsdam Science Park is home to prominent research institutes and, together with more than 30 companies and start-ups, created the “Campus of the Future” in Potsdam-GoIm. More than 12,500 people work in this hub, and that number is constantly growing, Ms Arntz-Reathi said. Potsdam, the capital of Brandenburg state, has 178,668 residents, a number set to increase to 220,000 by 2023. Its growing success has put upward pressure on house prices, which have risen to €4,171 per square meter, up from €2,693 per square meter in 2017.
