Construction costs in Germany are higher than in any other European country. There is a shortage of more than half a million apartments. Now the tenants’ association is sounding the alarm.
The tenants’ association fears a further drastic increase in rents due to the construction crisis and hundreds of thousands of missing apartments. Even in high-price regions like Munich, rents have risen more sharply than ever before in the past two years, even for existing contracts, said Tenants Association President Lukas Siebenkotten to the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. “The current rent index for Munich showed average rent increases of a horrendous 21 percent compared to the previous rent index, a shock for all affected tenants.”
Tenants’ associations nationwide were receiving more and more requests for advice about massive rent increases, Siebenkotten reported. “Tenants are increasingly worried about how they can manage their rent and the ever-increasing energy costs.” The federal government must finally act and put the creation of affordable housing at the top of its priority list, demanded the tenants’ association president. What is also necessary is a rent freeze in existing properties, a strict rent cap for new rentals, the punishment of exorbitant rents and the ban on index rents.
The leading association of the German real estate industry, ZIA, emphasized that construction costs in Germany are higher than in any other European country due to government regulations. “Rents inevitably have to rise because the costs of providing living space are exploding,” ZIA President Andreas Mattner told the newspaper. There is currently a shortage of over half a million apartments in Germany, and by 2027 there could be up to 830,000. “This is becoming an increasingly serious social problem,” said Mattner. In view of the high financing costs, he called for a government funding program with an interest rate of no more than two percent.
Source: Stern
