Number of the month for April: 86 percent
86 percent of residential buildings in the East Frisian district of Aurich are single-family homes. According to the Federal Statistical Office, this puts the district at the top of the list when it comes to the highest proportion of single-family homes in Germany. It is followed by the neighboring district of Leer (85.9%) and the district of Dithmarschen (85.5%), also located on the North Sea coast and about 90 kilometers from Hamburg.
While the proportion of single-family homes is gradually declining overall in Germany, as a larger share of newly built apartments has been located in multi-family buildings since 2005, this trend is apparently not yet very noticeable in East Frisia. Whether the demand by the Hamburg Green Party to gradually move away from the single-family home model due to its greater climate impact and higher land consumption can be linked to the statistical dominance of single-family homes, particularly in the North Sea region, is an open question.
However, if one considers the Happiness Atlas for comparison (the 10th edition was published in 2020, commissioned by Deutsche Post), it quickly becomes clear that the highest happiness index within Germany has remained unchanged for years among people in the north, particularly along the North Sea coast, despite a slight general decline in "happiness points" during the coronavirus crisis. Could it be the special – much envied, but recently also maligned – happiness of homeowners that is reflected in this happiness balance?
More information on the proportion of single-family homes in the housing stock in Germany can be found here:
https://www.destatis.de/DE/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2021/02/PD21_N015_44.html
Photo: © Csaba Nagy/Pixabay.com
About the author
Harry Mohr
Real estate agent (Chamber of Industry and Commerce)Harry Mohr, author of this article
