Dr. Pekka Sagner

Economist for Housing Policy and Real Estate Economics

Tel: +49 221 4981-881 Mail: sagner@iwkoeln.de Pekka Sagner

Empirical economist conducting research on housing policy and real estate markets
Doctorate in Economics (Dr. rer. oec.) from the University of Wuppertal in 2025, dissertation: Essays in the Economics of Housing Policy and Market Dynamics, awarded the DIA Research Prize for Real Estate Management by the German Real Estate Academy
Studied International Economics and Development (B.A.) and Economics (M.Sc.) at the University of Bayreuth with a year abroad at the Beijing Institute of Technology
At the German Economic Institute since 2018, senior economist since 2025
Teaches at the International Real Estate Business School (IREBS), the Academy of German Cooperatives (ADG), and the Fürstenberg specialist seminars on real estate economics, housing policy, and real estate management
Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Job & Wohnen association and co-chair of the Housing Finance working group of the European Network for Housing Research (ENHR)

Topics

Real Estate

Research unit

International Economic Policy, Financial and Real Estate Markets

IW Publications

Deschermeier, Philipp / Sagner, Pekka / Voigtländer, Michael, 2026, Mitarbeiterwohnen in Deutschland – Zwischen steigender Relevanz und fortbestehenden Hürden, in: IW-Trends, 53. Jg., Nr. 1, S. 49-70
Zur Studie

Sagner, Pekka / Voigtländer, Michael, 2021, Auswirkungen des Berliner Mietendeckels auf private Vermieter, in: IW-Trends, 48. Jg., Nr. 3, S. 45-67
Zur Studie

(in cooperation with Michael Voigtländer)
Mieten, Modernisierungen und Mieterstruktur – Vermietergruppen in Großstädten im Vergleich
IW-Report 11/2019

(in cooperation with Michael Voigtländer)
Es geht auch günstiger – Vorbild Niederlande
IW-Kurzbericht 60/2018

(in cooperation with Michael Voigtländer)
On the relevance and perspectives of commercial construction in the EU
IW-Report 32/2018

(in cooperation with Ralph Henger, Tilo Schumann)
Energetische Gebäudesanierung – Falsche steuerliche Anreize
IW-Kurzbericht 50/2018

(in cooperation with Michael Voigtländer)
Die Zahl der Ersterwerber sinkt weiter
IW-Kurzbericht 34/2018

(in cooperation with Matthias Diermeier, Markos Jung)
Wirtschaftskrise bremst europäische Konvergenz
IW-Kurzbericht 30/2018

Expertises

(in cooperation with Michael Voigtländer)
WOHNKOSTENREPORT 2019, eine Analyse von Mieten und Wohnnutzerkosten für 401 Kreise
Gutachten für ACCENTRO, 2019

(in cooperation with Hanno Kempermann, Agnes Ricci, Thorsten Lang)
Wohnen in Deutschland 2019
Studie für den Verband der Sparda-Banken e.V., 2019

(in cooperation with Ralph Henger, Michael Voigtländer)
Milieuschutz in Berlin
Gutachten im Auftrag des Vereins zur Förderung von Wohneigentum in Berlin e.V. , 2019

(in cooperation with Michael Voigtländer)
Die Erschwinglichkeit von Wohnraum – Analyse für alle deutschen Kreise
Gutachten im Auftrag der Deutsche Reihenhaus AG, 2018

External Publications

Sagner, Pekka, 2026, Energy Price Shock and Housing Market Dynamics. Evidence from Germany, in: Journal of Housing Economics, 102119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhe.2026.102119
Zur Studie

Sagner, P. (2025). Housing price spillovers after real estate agent fee reduction: evidence from the German housing market. Housing Studies, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2025.2552400
Zur Studie

Sagner, Pekka / Voigtländer, Michael, 2022, Supply side effects of the Berlin rent freeze, in: International Journal of Housing Policy, https://doi.org/10.1080/19491247.2022.2059844
Zur Studie

More from Dr. Pekka Sagner

IW-Trends No. 1 28. March 2026 Philipp Deschermeier / Pekka Sagner / Michael Voigtländer

Employee Housing in Germany – Growing in Importance but Faced with Persistent Obstacles

Based on a company survey conducted with the German Economic Institute’s IW Personnel Panel, this study examines the role of employee accommodation in combatting Germany’s current shortage of skilled workers and its tight housing markets.

External Publication 7. January 2026 Pekka Sagner in Journal of Housing Economics

Energy Price Shock and Housing Market Dynamics: Evidence from Germany

This paper analyses the impact of the energy price shock following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 on housing market dynamics in Germany, focusing on the price differences between the most energy-efficient dwellings (MEED) and less energy-efficient dwellings (LEED).

External Publication 1. September 2025 Pekka Sagner

Housing price spillovers after real estate agent fee reduction: evidence from the German housing market

This paper examines the impact of changes in the real estate agent fee (REAF) for homebuyers following a 2020 reform in Germany, which capped charges to non-hiring parties at the amount paid by the hiring party and required equal fee splitting when both sides hire an agent.

External Publication

Supply side effects of the Berlin rent freeze

External Publication 6. May 2022 Pekka Sagner / Michael Voigtländer in International Journal of Housing Policy

Supply side effects of the Berlin rent freeze

On 23 February 2020, the Berlin Senate introduced the Berlin rent freeze (‘Mietendeckel’). The law was repealed on 25 March 2021. The Berlin rent freeze was an unprecedented market intervention in the German housing market.

IW-Trends No. 3 20. August 2021 Pekka Sagner / Michael Voigtländer

How the Berlin Rent Cap Affected Private Landlords

The effects of the Berlin rent cap on the city’s housing market were wide-reaching, with the supply of rental accommodation falling by more than half while the cap was in force.

IW-Analyse No. 136 21. July 2020 Pekka Sagner / Maximilian Stockhausen / Michael Voigtländer

Housing – the new social question?

The sharp rise in rents and housing prices in the 2010s, particularly in the major conurbations, has led some to assert that housing is “the social question of our time”.

Expertise 30. April 2019 Michael Voigtländer / Pekka Sagner

Wohnkostenreport 2019: Eine Analyse von Mieten und Wohnnutzerkosten für 401 Kreise

The residential user cost approach allows a comparison of rental costs and regular costs incurred by a homeowner. This approach is used to determine the relative advantageousness of home ownership over renting.

IW-Report No. 32 5. September 2018 Pekka Sagner / Michael Voigtländer

On the relevance and perspectives of commercial construction in the EU

In this paper, we present the current state of European investments in construction. Furthermore we showed how construction investments fared in comparison to overall GFCF, noting that construction investments are still below their peak levels in 2007 for both investments in dwellings and the construction of non-residential buildings and structures.

IW-Kurzbericht No. 30 18. May 2018 Matthias Diermeier / Markos Jung / Pekka Sagner

Regional growth: Economic crisis slows European convergence

Up until the economic and financial crisis, economic conditions in the European regions had been converging. This process has come to a complete standstill in recent years due to lower growth in Eastern Europe and stagnation in Southern Europe.

Interactive Graphic 18. May 2018 Matthias Diermeier / Markos Jung / Pekka Sagner

Convergence in Europe: The poorer regions are not catching up anymore

Before the economic crisis, European regions with low economic output per inhabitant grew faster than the wealthier ones. The living conditions on the continent became more similar. Since 2010, however, the process of catching-up has been stopped.