Soaring rental prices in Germany: Properties hit by the construction crisis, New Blow.

The prices of houses, apartments and commercial premises in Germany have fallen significantly this year, but rental prices have jumped again, a report from the domestic mortgage bank association VDP shows.

Home sale prices fell by an average of 1.9 percent in the third quarter and by 6.3 percent from a year earlier, the VDP said in a report Friday.

Prices in the second quarter fell an incredible nearly 10% from a year ago, the biggest decline since 2000. Statistics for the third quarter have yet to be released.

VDP includes leading financial institutions in Germany such as Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, regional state banks and large savings.

New data and fifth consecutive quarterly drop in prices''German cities, despite insufficient supply, up 1.3% quarter-on-quarter and 5.7% year-on-year. The highest was in Frankfurt at 9.1% and the lowest in Berlin at 4.7%.

The housing shortage is taking its toll on the rental market, where prices in the third quarter were about 5.8% higher than a year earlier. An increasing housing shortage and huge demand are pushing up rental prices," Tolkmith said.

Prices for commercial real estate were particularly hard hit, down 10.6 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier.