As of: January 25, 2024, 10:16 p.m
By: Ulrike Hagen
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Press
Split
Rental prices continue to explode.
They rose locally by 20 percent – in just one year.
The tenants' association is alarmed and warns of a “serious social problem”.
Kassel – In the new year, consumers will not only have to prepare for the exploding costs of heating networks and hefty discounts on electricity and gas.
Record rents are being achieved, particularly in larger cities, despite falling property prices.
Prices also rose sharply last year, as the Immoscout24 housing barometer shows.
On a national average, rents for existing apartments were 5.8 percent more expensive in December than in the previous year.
The high rent burden affects many people, as around every second person in Germany lives on rent, a record figure within the EU.
The tenants' association is alarmed.
In an interview with IPPEN.MEDIA, President Lukas Siebenkotten warned of a “serious social problem”.
Rental prices continue to explode.
They rose locally by 20 percent – in just one year.
The tenants' association is alarmed and warns of a “serious social problem”.
(Symbolic image) © IMAGO / Sven Simon
“Living is becoming a luxury good”: In Munich, a square meter already costs 21.01 euros
According to the Federal Statistical Office, real estate prices are currently falling more sharply than they have in 23 years: in the third quarter of 2023 by 10.2 percent compared to the previous year - houses are 12.7 percent cheaper, apartments 9.1 percent.
This applies to cities as well as to rural regions.
In stark contrast to this are the new shock figures for average rents, including those from the private research institute Empirica for the third quarter of 2023.
Tenants are having to dig deeper and deeper into their pockets, especially in major cities: the average rental price per square meter in Munich is now 21.01 euros per square meter and 17.64 euros in Berlin.
Rental prices are also climbing higher and higher in Kassel.
“Annual bad news”: Tenants’ association calls for rents to be frozen for several years
The rule of thumb that no more than a third of disposable income should be spent on housing is probably no longer realistic for many tenants in major cities: “Every year there is new bad news, the screw is being tightened further and further,” said the president of the tenants’ association Lukas Siebenkotten.
The rent cap hasn't really worked either, "since violations are not punished."
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There are only two ways out of the misery: “Affordable housing, i.e. social housing, must be built.”
In addition, the possibility of rent increases of currently legally possible 15 percent in three years in tight housing markets must be capped.
“As a tenants’ association, we are now taking a radical approach – and are even calling for the current rents to be frozen for five to six years,” says Siebenkotten.
During this time, the urgently needed living space can be created.
The General Association of German Housing Companies (GdW) estimates that at least three quarters of a million apartments are currently missing, and the trend is rising.
Studies have shown that there is a shortage of over 900,000 social housing units in Germany
Studies by the renowned Pestel Institute have even shown that there is a shortage of 910,000 social housing units in Germany.
The alliance explains that the federal and state governments have seriously neglected the promotion of such housing.
The German Tenants’ Association is also calling for such massive investments in social housing: “Otherwise social unrest is foreseeable.”