What is my house in Freital worth?
A town made of villages, merged in 1921
Freital grew together in 1921 out of several mining and industrial villages and still has no single historic centre, but a chain of centres along the Weisseritz. For the valuation that means the district says more about the price here than the town name does.
The largest localities include Potschappel (5,504 inhabitants), Deuben (5,399), Zauckerode (4,681), Hainsberg (4,086), Pesterwitz (3,181) and Wurgwitz (2,513). The first four lie in the valley, the last two on the heights above it.
Above and below the valley edge
The difference in altitude matters more to the price in Freital than the postal address does, and the census figures show why. In Pesterwitz owner-occupancy is 75.5 per cent, vacancy 0.5 per cent and the pre-war share 18.7 per cent. Deuben, by contrast, shows 40.3 per cent owner-occupancy and 6.2 per cent vacancy, and Potschappel 71.4 per cent pre-war stock.
Up top stand family houses with gardens and a view over the valley, below them company housing estates and pre-war tenements. Owners from the two areas describe the same town to me and mean two different markets.
Hands-on assessment
“When selling an apartment (Eigentumswohnung) in Dresden, I frequently see owners underestimate the achievable price by 8–15%. The difference almost always lies in the marketing strategy, not in the property itself.”
Calvin Linke, estate agent (Immobilienmakler) Dresden
Discuss in person →What the town-wide figures say, and what they hide
Freital has 39,148 inhabitants, 20,252 households and 7,478 residential buildings (2022 census). That works out at 2.7 households per building and 1.9 people per household: an urban market with rural edges.
The owner-occupancy rate of 56.9 per cent lies below the average for the municipalities close to Dresden. Owner-occupiers and investors therefore operate side by side, and which group sets the price depends on the property. The town average of 49.5 per cent pre-war stock, on the other hand, is a figure I never use in a valuation: the whole of Freital's stock lies between Zauckerode at 17.8 per cent and Potschappel at 71.4 per cent.
What condition and the valley edge are worth in euros
The gap between 2,400 and 3,100 euros per square metre works out at around 91,000 euros on 130 square metres of living space. In Freital that is roughly the amount by which location and condition can move against each other.
In Freital that range is filled mainly by the state of renovation and by the position above or below the valley edge. A renovated house in a middling location regularly beats an unrenovated one in a sought-after position here. For owner-occupied flats the zone gives 1,900 to 2,600 euros per square metre, and for building land 150 to 260 euros, the highest land corridor in the ring.
The S3 and the 8.1 kilometres
The S3 stops at Potschappel, Deuben and Hainsberg and takes about fifteen minutes to Dresden main station. Together with the 8.1 kilometres as the crow flies, that is why Dresden buyers have Freital on their list at all, and why the price level sits above that of the more distant municipalities.
In practice the comparison is with Rabenau and Bannewitz and with south-western Dresden. The first question at a Freital valuation appointment is therefore not how big the house is, but at what altitude it stands.
After the valuation
How I market a house in Freital is set out on selling a house in Freital, and for flats on selling a flat in Freital. For structure and neighbouring towns see Freital in profile. For the wider picture: estate agent in Dresden.
