If the government does not intervene, Germany faces an “unimaginable catastrophe” at the housing market, the German Association of Tenants warns. According to the magazine Der Spiegel, by the end of 2022, the country already lacked about 700,000 flats. At the same time half as many apartments are built per year in Germany, and the cost of the rent is already very high.
The German Association of Tenants warns of a massive shortage in the housing market in Germany, writes the German magazine Der Spiegel.
“The alarming signals of a housing shortage have not been sounded as loudly as they are now,” said Lucas Siebenkotten, president of the renters’ association in an interview with the Funke media group. The situation in the housing market becomes, he said, “increasingly dramatic”.
Now the government in Berlin and the state governments must change the situation – “or an unimaginable disaster awaits us at the housing market”, Siebenkotten stressed. He expects 2023 to be “a very difficult year for tenants”.
According to a recent study cited by the Funke Group newspapers, the housing shortage in Germany is now higher than at any time in the past 30 years. According to a study carried out by the Pestel Institute Hanover and the Arge Institute Schleswig-Holstein, the housing shortage across the country was expected to be around 700,000 flats by the end of 2022. This is “more than twice the annual production of flats”, the experts warn.
According to the study, the housing market, which was already tight, was under pressure last year due primarily to the large influx of people in connection with the Russian military special operation in Ukraine. However, an increase in investment costs and the associated decline in construction activity also had a negative impact on the housing market.
The construction union IG BAU sees a contradiction between the problems at the housing market and the federal government’s plan to significantly increase the number of skilled workers immigrating from abroad.
“Housing and work – they have to be together,” said union deputy leader Harald Schaum in an interview with German media. – No one will come if they cannot live here or can only do this with monstrously high rents.”
On Thursday, the tenants’ association, the building trade union IG Bau and the Roman Catholic Church’s charity Caritas will hold a press conference in Berlin on the subject of “housing in crisis”, according to the German magazine Der Spiegel.
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