There is a lack of living space in Berlin, above all: affordable living space. Will a black-red coalition remedy this? The CDU and SPD want to see “up to 20,000 new apartments” completed in Berlin each year, including “up to 5,000 social housing units”. The two numbers come from the red-green-red government. The restriction “up to” is new, however, which must be interpreted as a concession to the “current difficult and crisis-prone framework conditions”, as the draft treaty puts it.
But it is not only the overall target for new apartments that is lower in the draft coalition agreement than that of the incumbent government. The target for the state-owned housing associations is also being reduced: instead of the previous 7,000 new apartments per year, only 6,500 are to be aimed for, i.e. 500 fewer apartments, on whose rental conditions the state can directly influence.
Accelerated building
The building should nevertheless be made easier overall. CDU and SPD want to speed up approval procedures, shorten deadlines and work with approval fictions, use case managers on the administrative side for large housing projects and make significantly more money available for housing subsidies. Ancillary construction law such as monument and nature conservation should also be included in the acceleration, which may mean less consideration of these concerns. The housing alliance between the real estate industry and the state is to be continued.
You can feel a “spirit of optimism” and a “signal for a cooperation between the real estate industry and politics,” says Sebastian Fischer, CEO of Primus Immobilien AG, the daily mirror. Annette Mischler, spokeswoman for the Groth Group, agrees: “The signs of the new coalition are promising, as one has the feeling of being perceived as a cooperation partner on an equal footing again.”
Vonovia spokesman Matthias Wulff is also pleased “that the issue of creating living space will remain a high priority in the new coalition.” Nevertheless, he cannot yet say whether the steps announced will result in Vonovia continuing the new construction projects announced for 2023 resumes this year. They are working on it specifically: “We can’t predict exactly when this point in time will be.”
So more could actually be built in Berlin. The only question that remains is how affordable the apartments that are being built are. The plans for accelerating construction apply regardless of whether the issue is affordable housing or not. Almost a million households in Berlin are entitled to a housing entitlement certificate (WBS), i.e. the right to rent a price-controlled social apartment. In contrast, there are currently only around 89,000 such apartments.
Too little social housing
Mathias Schulz negotiated the chapter on building and renting for the SPD. However, he is not satisfied with the result: “Every year we lose at least 5,000 due to expiring rental price controls – in 2023 alone it will be 5,343. The goal of up to 5,000 new social housing units per year mentioned in the coalition agreement cannot compensate for this loss. We need an expansion of social housing.
It is not clear whether the plans of the new coalition will encourage the sector to build more social housing. “Of course, the construction industry welcomes the adjustment of subsidies for social housing,” says Annette Mischler from the Groth Group. “In recent years it has no longer been economically viable to build apartments that are then to be rented out for EUR 6.50 per square metre. The construction and financing costs simply do not match.”
One is now watching with great interest how the new funding will be designed. “It then depends on whether we can also build social housing outside of the projects with the cooperative building land model or not.” In the cooperative building land model, property developers are obliged to provide a fixed proportion of social housing for large projects. Beyond such contracts, private developers have built almost no social housing in recent times.
