House prices in German towns and cities rose by 6¼ per cent on the year in 2020. Growth was consequently just as strong as in 2019. 

Consumer prices in Germany were up sharply at the start of the year, partly because households’ consumption behaviour has changed in certain areas during the coronavirus pandemic, as shown by an analysis in the current issue of the Monthly Report.

The economic recovery in Germany was brought to a standstill in the final quarter of 2020, the Bundesbank writes in its latest Monthly Report, stating that this was due to resurgent infection rates and the tightening of containment measures. Economic activity was consequently still almost 4% down on the pre-crisis level of the fourth quarter of 2019.

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann believes all institutions have a duty to ask themselves how they can contribute to combating climate change within the framework of their mandate. “I am convinced that we all can do more to mitigate climate change, without risking conflict with our very own tasks. And we should do more,” Mr Weidmann said in a speech delivered virtually in Frankfurt.

The Bundesbank registered approximately 58,800 counterfeit euro banknotes in 2020 with a nominal value of €2.9 million, with mostly €10 and €20 banknotes being counterfeited.

Growth in labour productivity in the euro area has slowed significantly over the past 20 years. This was not least due to structural factors, the Bundesbank explains in its current Monthly Report. In addition to enterprises’ diminishing ability to innovate and adapt, demographic change could also have a negative impact on labour productivity, according to the experts.

According to the current issue of the Monthly Report, in the final quarter of 2020 Germany's economic recovery was throttled by the higher infection rates and considerably stricter measures introduced again to contain the pandemic. However, in the experts’ assessment, the tighter restrictions have not led to any major setback; instead, real gross domestic product is likely to have more or less stagnated. The pandemic left a deep mark on German economic output in 2020 as a whole.

The financial assets of households in Germany increased by €108 billion in the third quarter of 2020 and now amount to roughly €6.7 trillion. This rise was due to a high propensity to save and the positive developments on the capital markets towards the end of the period.

Many citizens have been increasingly using cards to make payments during the coronavirus pandemic. “According to a representative Bundesbank survey in 2020, the importance of cashless payment methods, especially cards, in everyday expenditures has been growing considerably,” said Bundesbank Executive Board member Burkhard Balz at the unveiling of the results.

The year 2020 saw German economic output contract by 5.0%, with the drop in gross domestic product in a year overshadowed by COVID-19 bringing to an end a ten-year run of growth. This compares with a 0.6% rate of expansion in 2019.