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Residential area in Saxony-Anhalt: How much space do you need to live?
Photo: Jan Woitas / dpa
In the fight against the housing shortage, the Association of Berlin-Brandenburg Housing Companies (BBU) has proposed drastic measures.
"We should think about legal options for limiting living space," says the head of the BBU, Maren Kern, of the "Zeit".
"We can't complain about shortages while at the same time living space per capita continues to increase in many places."
The members of the association manage more than one million apartments.
At least three in a four-room apartment?
Switzerland could be a role model, where a limit is possible for many housing cooperatives.
»In a four-room apartment, for example, at least three people must live.
If a child moves out at some point, the parents are offered a smaller apartment or have to pay an underoccupancy tax.
We should see that German tenancy law also opens up this possibility," says Kern.
The consumption of living space per capita has been rising sharply in Germany for years.
Mathematically, every person in Germany lives in more than 45 square meters.
In 1991 it was 34.9 square meters.
In rural areas in particular, people have more and more space at their disposal.
According to an evaluation by the real estate service provider Empirica Regio, between 2015 and 2020, living space per capita increased the most in rural regions, at 3.7 percent.
In large cities, the increase was still 1.5 percent.
»Rural regions in particular still have enough building land and space to create new living space.
Single-family homes dominate there with a large amount of space per capita,” said Jan Grade, Managing Director of the real estate service provider.
»In peripheral areas, however, increasing ageing, the departure of young people and the associated increase in vacancies are leading to an increase in living space per capita.«
Christine Hannemann, housing researcher from the University of Stuttgart, thinks that 25 square meters of living space per capita is sufficient.
It doesn't need more.
Especially since the psychological stress increases with every square meter of additional living space.
»It is often underestimated how much work means living.«
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