In some places, especially on the North Sea and Baltic Sea, locals can hardly get their hands on land anymore. The reason is financially strong investors from outside. From the point of view of the Minister for Construction, this does not have to be the case.
Federal Minister for Construction Klara Geywitz (SPD) is encouraging municipalities to allocate plots of land to residents more often than to newcomers. “In many places, it is causing anger, and rightly so, when only wealthy people from outside the area can afford building land,” the minister told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”. Communities and municipalities already have various instruments at their disposal to create affordable housing. “It is important to make better use of the opportunities to allow residents to build and live at reasonable prices.”
The background to this are complaints, particularly from regions by the sea, that wealthy newcomers are repeatedly snatching plots of land from local residents. Geywitz said that some municipalities are already using so-called locals’ models. “This means that plots of land can be awarded to local residents at reduced prices in a fair process rather than to the highest bidder. The federal government has lobbied the EU for such special rules. So far, however, they have only been used rarely,” added the minister. Her department wants to make the locals’ model better known and easier to implement.
Source: Stern
