Commission-free Houses to buy in Bremerhaven

A young city in the very north, which has already reinvented itself several times

The function, history and reason for its existence of today's city of more than 100,000 inhabitants at the North Sea and the mouth of the Weser are already unmistakable in its own name. The increasing silting up of the Weser prompted the Hanseatic City of Bremen in the late 1820s to purchase land further along the coast for its maritime traffic and trade. The new port of Bremen on the Outer Weser, i.e. Bremerhaven, was expanded on a large scale in the following decades, and after the granting of city rights in 1851, the Imperial Ports I to III were built until after the turn of the century in 1900. The New Port, which was also built at that time, is today primarily used for tourism as well as by pleasure boats and yachts; also worth seeing there are various museum ships, the Zoo am Meer and the German Emigrant House, which opened in 2005, is well worth seeing and was awarded the title of "European Museum of the Year" (2007). After Bremerhaven had developed into the largest fishing port in Europe between the 1930s and 1960s, however, this area suffered a massive loss of importance and jobs until the 1980s.However, thegreat success of the Bremerhaven Container Terminal, which has been expanded several times since 1968 and is now one of the largest of its kind in the world, and the three-million-square-meter car terminal, currently the largest in Europe, have largely made up for these losses, as well as those of the shipyards that were closing down in rows at the time.

Still relatively low prices in a promising urban environment

In the meantime, Bremerhaven has thus been presenting itself as an economically healthy and livable city again for some time now and due to increasing tourism, significant fish and food processing and the increased use of offshore wind power. It has also been able to position itself successfully and stably as an important science location with a focus on the maritime economy. Renowned institutions such as the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES), the Institute for Wind Energy at Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences, the Institute for Maritime Transport and Logistics (ISL), the Institute for Marine Resources (IMARE) and the Center for Aquaculture Research (ZAF) are already located on site, and from 2016 the Thünen Institute for Fisheries is also scheduled to open as a new laboratory and office building in the traditional fishing port. Bremerhaven, which was named the most business-friendly city in Germany by a trade publication in 2010, also operates its own settlement service for interested companies, which are also increasingly attracted by the very favorable real estate prices compared with the rest of Germany, which currently stand at just over 1,500 euros/m². While apartments of all sizes and locations have risen relatively sharply in recent years (currently approx. 1,700 euros/m²), there has even been a partial drop in prices for houses, depending on the exact size (currently approx. 1,400 euros/m²).

Short distances, redeveloped residential areas, leisure and cultural facilities just around the corner

Especially in the old quarters, which until a few years ago were still heavily affected by vacancy and decay, the local politicians have recently invested intensively in redevelopment and restoration. Examples of this are the Pausenhof and Goethequartier in the Lehe district, the extensive redevelopments in Wulsdorf, Leherheide and on the Weser dike, and the modern new buildings in the very exclusive Kapitänsviertel. Elsewhere in Bremerhaven, too, there are still numerous beautiful houses of all construction years and price categories. Due to its small size of less than 100 km², the neighborhoods located on the outskirts of the city are also quite suitable for housing purchases in the city of short distances. Weddewarden, on the northern outskirts of the city, is rural with typical northern German red brick houses in the north and industrially characterized by the container port in the south, while large new housing developments from the 1960s to 1970s dominate the neighboring district of Leherheide to the east. Between the two residential areas lies the district of Lehe (Speckenbüttel, Eckernfeld, Twischkamp, Goethestraße, Klushof, Alt-Lehe, Schierholz, Buschkämpen), a residential area that was also extensively redeveloped in the 1980s and 1990s and includes the large commercial area of Speckenbüttel. To the south is the Mitte district, where most of the city's sights and cultural institutions are located in the historic center. For example, the university, the municipal theater, the maritime museum, the Klimahaus, the new urban quarter "Havenwelten", which was awarded the "National Prize for Integrated Urban Development and Building Culture" in 2009, the dike promenade to Columbuskaje and the popular scene and pub district "Alte Bürger".Thedistrict of Geestemünde (Geestemünde-Nord, Geestemünde-Süd, Geestendorf, Bürgerpark) to the southeast of the center is also central and architecturally diverse. The Schiffdorferdamm district on the eastern outskirts of the city is considered an urban suburb for workers, and the neighboring district of Surheide has a residential character with many houses from the 1950s and 1960s.

Short facts department store in Bremerhaven:

• Bremerhaven is a young city that has overcome its economic crisis well.

• Port, tourism and scientific institutions caused the upswing

• Real estate prices are significantly lower than the national average

• Many old quarters have been extensively renovated in recent years

• The city offers old and new buildings and short distances on a small area directly by the sea

• In the center, a completely new urban district has been created in the form of the "Havenwelten".

• On the outskirts of the city, some of the existing houses are still surprisingly affordable.