It has never been so difficult for students to find a room. But families also have a hard time finding suitable and affordable living space in German cities. The gap between existing and new contract rents is widening.
The high demand for housing and the comparatively low supply have led to a sharp rise in new contract rents in recent years. The more strictly regulated existing rents have not been able to keep pace with this development. As a result, there is a considerable gap between the rents offered for new contracts and those for existing tenancies, particularly in urban centres.
According to calculations by the American consulting and management company JLL, the difference is highest in Munich at 8.03 euros per square metre and in Berlin at 7.47 euros per square metre. Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne and Stuttgart follow with differences of between 4.80 and 4.40 euros per square metre. A total of 22 cities with more than 300,000 inhabitants were analysed.
The sharp rise in the difference between existing and new rents means that tenant households are avoiding moving, as they can expect to pay significantly higher rents when renting a new property. As a result, fluctuation is falling and with it the number of advertised rental offers, which further exacerbates the situation. The housing situation for German students differs considerably in some cases. While a room in a shared flat in Chemnitz, Jena or Dresden is still comparatively cheap, rents in Berlin, Hamburg or Cologne are usually well above the BAföG flat-rate housing allowance. The interactive maps of Germany from the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography show where housing is most expensive and where the supply of student accommodation is particularly high.
The rent freeze introduced in 2015 is proving to be of little help. The reason: there are no consequences for violating the rent freeze. This is also shown by the latest figures from the Mietenmonitor.de portal, which analyses rent levels across Germany.
Photo: © Sephelonor, Pixabay
