June 19, 2019

Anna Murray 

A Berlin draft law, approved by the city's Senate on June 18, targets to freeze rents in the German capital for the next five years. The plan will become law in January 2020 applying to 1.4 million properties but it excludes separately-regulated social housing or new builds. There have been many complaints about housing costs elsewhere in Germany. The Hamburg regional parliament has to vote on it too.
Once depicted as “poor, but sexy”, Berlin rents have doubled over the past decade as jobseekers lured by the strong job market move into the city. There have been protestors rallying against rising rents and urging the authorities to keep housing affordable. According to a recent real estate study, the average monthly rent of a furnished Berlin flat is reported about €1,100 (£983; US$1,232).
The left-wing Social Democratic Party (SPD), the coalition government in Berlin, has pledged a national rent cap, but critics are skeptical that the housing market varies considerably from one region to the next.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, of the Christian Democrats (CDU), agrees with SPD that the squeeze on affordable housing is a problem. But Chancellor Merkel argues that the best solution is to build new homes, and suggests to “provide an environment for people to want to build” and to “remain advantageous and attractive to invest in residential property.”

Photo:Webshot.