Whilst the Altstadt is the heart of the shopping center and has only very limited residential areas, and so is the eastern part of the Neustadt, its western part is basically a residential area. It was Hamburg's poorest quarter in the 17th and 18th century. The most popular areas are the Portuguese Quarter beneath Hamburg most famous landmark, the church St. Michaelis, as well as the area around Peterstrasse / Großneumarkt. The character of both areas is similar. The living standard is less exclusive than one might guess, and a little less pricy, but still rather expensive due to their direct neighborhood to the shopping area.
The average income though is very different in both quarters, whilst Neustadt shows only 28.000 EUR per year, Altstadt has 40.000 EUR. This reflects in the rental prices, they differ a lot as there are newly built lofts next to social housing.
For singles or urban couples, who do not want to live in the party / red-light-district St. Pauli or the "gay" quarter St. Georg, these two areas are perfect as you can reach both by foot or at least by bike. Households with children stand for only 10% of the habitants - in Altstadt even less. There are 13 kindergartens and 2 primary schools and 1 secondary school take care of about 400 children living in these districts.
There are many Portuguese and Spanish restaurants and whine bars in the bottom part, the Portuguese Quarter. The upper part, the Großneumarkt, offers also all kinds of restaurants. Both areas are not especially pricy with regards to the food. But there are of course also top restaurants. The park Planten & Blomen, the harbor and the shopping do invite for extensive walks. During night time it is rather quiet here, when the shops closed their doors and the office people went home, you only see a pedestrian here and there. Party is being made in St. Georg or St. Pauli and residents tend to go to their local restaurants instead of going back to the city center.
Get an impression of available apartments in this district
The link refers to the biggest real estate webportal and what you see is representative. The search is limited to unfurnished apartments with a built-in kitchen. Any furniture you see will go out before you move in.
Get an idea of rental price development in this district
The link refers to statistics of the biggest real estate webportal and shows the m² prices as so requested by the landlords. They can be considered being the reality since there is no room for negotiation in this market.
Photos f.l.t.r: (c) Jerzy Sawluk PIXELIO, (c) Jan_von_Bröckel PIXELIO, (c) Bernd_Sterzl PIXELIO, (c) Bernd_Sterzl PIXELIO, (c) Bernd_Sterzl PIXELIO, (c) Bernd_Sterzl PIXELIO, (c) Sabine Markmann PIXELIO, (c) Lisa Schwarz PIXELIO, Enkeplatz (c) hh oldmann (CC BY 3.0), Großneumarkt (c) hh oldmann (CC BY 3.0), Neanderstrasse (c) hh oldmann (CC BY 3.0), Peterstrasse close to Großneumarkt (c) hh oldmann (CC BY 3.0), Portugese quarter (c) hh oldmann (CC BY 3.0), The Krameramtsstuben beneath the St. Michaelis church (c) Annemarie, The Pelican pharmacy has been at the Großneumarkt since 1696 (c) Claus Joachim Dickow (CC-BY-SA-3.0), Portugese quarter (c) hh oldmann (CC BY 3.0), Portugese quarter (c) hh oldmann (CC BY 3.0), Portugese quarter (c) hh oldmann (CC BY 3.0)
