Rental prices explode: German tenant day warns of housing shortage in Rostock!

Rental prices explode: German tenant day warns of housing shortage in Rostock!

This week Rostock is all about living: The 71st German Tenant's Day takes place here from Thursday to Saturday. According to ndr are expected about 400 representatives of tenant associations and regional associations, about the pressing topics around the KNECH to discuss the increasing housing costs.

The problem is up to date: rental prices have risen sharply in recent years, especially in urban areas. This development has presented many households in Germany with existential challenges. The German Tenants' Association therefore calls for a clear change of course to ensure affordable living. Tenant Association President Lukas Siebenkotten, who will retire after almost 18 years as president, warns that the hope of cheap living space will disappear. Many people are already at the limit of their financial stress.

urgent living situation

A look at the numbers of the Tenieterbund shows the full extent of the problem: Over a third of the 21 million tenant households in Germany is overloaded by housing costs. Around 3.1 million households pay more than 40 percent of their income for rent and heating costs. These financial pressure relationships are also intensified by the decline in social housing in the past few decades. Around 45,000 social housing falls out of the bond every year, so that only 1.1 million are currently available.

It becomes particularly serious in cities like Berlin, where the offer rents rose by 27 percent between November 2022 and February 2023. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the climbs were not far behind at 10.3 percent between 2021 and 2022.

The living space under pressure

How do we get affordable living space at a time when more and more people have to pay how the tenant association analyzed? On average, tenant households live in less living space than the national average - only 69 m² compared to 93 m² with owners: inside. In addition, an average of 1.7 people live in rental households, and 83 percent of rental companies live in apartment buildings. Rents for advertised existing apartments rose by 4 percent nationwide to EUR 9.66 per m² net cold.

These loads make living costs a central question of quality of life. As the Federal Statistical Office , the surveys show that housing costs are an increasing challenge and can even endanger social cohesion.

insight into the future

On Wednesday there will be a presidium meeting in Berlin before the actual conference begins. The Federal Minister of Living, Urban Development and Building, Verena Hubertz, is also expected among the guests. It will have to ask the critical questions of the tenant representatives and may set the course for a sustainable improvement in the living situation.

The situation of the rental shows: There is still a lot to do to relieve the pressure on rental prices and to secure the quality of life for many people. The tenant day in Rostock is a welcome occasion to start these urgently needed conversations and to take on politics.