After years in the doldrums, Berlin's population is continuing to grow - if ever so slightly. The Berlin-Brandenburg Statistics Agency reported that the city's population has seen a net increase of 1,250 persons over the six months to the end of July, reaching a total of 3,405,300 inhabitants. This means that Berlin's population has been steadily increasing since 2005 - but is still some way below the level it reached during the early 1990s (see graph below).

Source: Amt für Statistik Berlin Brandenburg

On the face of it this is good news for Berlin's property market, because population growth translates directly into increased demand for both rental and purchase properties. However, the city is still a long way from being a boom town: despite being the capital city of Europe's largest country, Berlin's economy - outside of a few sectors - is still very sluggish, and there is simply not the stream of incoming residents that other capitals experience. And the population decline during the 1990s coincided with a (hype-fuelled) construction boom, meaning there is still net over-capacity in the market.

The report is available here (PDF).

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