1.7 million vacant apartments?: The Minister of Construction speaks of massive vacancies – her bill has a catch
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- In many places in Germany people are looking for an apartment in vain.
- According to Minister of Building Geywitz, however, there is plenty of free living space in Germany.
- But her bill has a catch
The housing shortage in Germany is getting worse. More and more people are entering an already tight market. If you are looking for an affordable rental apartment, you will search for a long time or even in vain. The rental market is often empty, especially in large cities and their catchment areas.
According to Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD), many apartments are empty. “We have around 1.7 million vacant apartments,” Geywitz told “Bild”. “The living situation is very different.”
What does the building minister mean by that? There are apartments not only in the city, but also in the country. The 49-euro ticket, which is valid from May 1st, also makes living in the country cheaper and therefore more attractive.
Many apartments are dilapidated and not ready for occupancy
However, experts doubt Geywitz’ calculation. “There are only 1.7 million empty apartments in theory,” says Reiner Braun from the Empirica Regio research institute to “Bild”. And further: “Half is lost because the apartments are dilapidated and not ready for occupancy.”
In addition, the numbers are from 2021. And that’s not all. Because: With the Ukraine war, many refugees also came to Germany. “They have occupied around 200,000 apartments,” says Braun. This means that more than a million apartments are no longer included in the calculation. Empirica has around 600,000 apartments. That’s not much, says Braun.
According to the tenants’ association, however, 700,000 are already missing apartments in Germany. And that should also be calculated tightly in view of the increased immigration to Germany. According to Deutsche Bank, the population of Germany will increase to 86 million by 2030.
“Many regions are dead, trade and gastronomy have migrated”
A large proportion of the vacant apartments are concentrated in the new federal states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.
In addition, apartments are often empty in structurally weak regions, so moving there is simply not worthwhile, as there are hardly any jobs there and usually only poor public transport connections to larger cities. So these are not so-called commuter belt regions. “The vacant apartments can only help to a limited extent,” says real estate expert Braun to “Bild”. Apartments are usually empty where they are not needed. The regions are also too remote to be worth revitalizing. “Many regions are dead, trade and gastronomy have migrated,” explains Braun.
As the Institute of German Economics, IW Cologne, has determined, around three quarters of all Germans live in large cities or in the immediate vicinity, only 28 percent live in remote districts.
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More has to be built – but the government missed its construction target again
The demand of many experts: build, build, build! Only new construction can solve the problem of the housing shortage when people from abroad move in at the same time. But there is simply not enough being built. High bureaucratic hurdles and requirements paralyze the new building and make it more expensive. Inflation is also driving new construction prices to dizzying heights. Many projects are delayed or canceled because it is not economically worthwhile for property developers.
The federal government, consisting of SPD, Greens and FDP, had already set itself the goal of building 400,000 new apartments every year in 2021. Today it is clear: the goal was already missed last year. It is expected to be missed again this year. Just 246,000 new apartments will be completed in 2023, the experts at Deutsche Bank predicted at the end of last year.
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