The goal of 20,000 newly built apartments in Berlin was not achieved last year – again Photo: picture alliance / Lothar Ferstl/ Ralf Günther
By Larissa Hoppe
Almost 17,000 new apartments were approved last year. A comment from Larissa Hoppe, deputy BZ editor-in-chief.
There is a housing shortage in Berlin – but the number of approved apartments in the capital has fallen for the sixth year in a row. The goal: 20,000 to reduce the pressure on rents and purchase prices.
But the opposite is the case. A place to live is and will remain a luxury good. In many cases, there can no longer be any talk of affordable.
Just a few days ago we reported that the prices for shared rooms have risen by 28 percent within a year – to an average of 640 euros per month in the 2023 summer semester.
According to the Moses Mendelssohn Institute, it is no longer just students or young professionals who are competing for a place in a flat-sharing community, but increasingly also tenants from the 60+ generation. The wallet often does not give anything else, the need is great.
An end to the misery is not in sight. Where permission is no longer granted, construction can no longer be carried out. The tenants’ association and the trade union IG Bau have already warned of a “disaster on the housing market”.
Berlin authorities obviously have no answer. One of the most important issues that the new coalition must address.