In Germany, there are 600,000 vacant homes!

 

Since rents in larger German cities hit record highs, a recent study found that more than half a million apartments are vacant in less popular areas and the situation is expected to worsen in the years to come.

In Germany, the number of vacant properties will increase

As everyone who has gone outside the big and university cities of Germany knows, there are thousands of apartments in several municipalities that have remained unoccupied for years. With rentals increasingly affordable in cities like Berlin and Munich, there are numerous areas with an over abundance of cheap real estate where fewer and fewer people are looking.  real estate companies in qatar

This is evident from the recent vacancy rate research carried out by Emprica and CBRE, which analyzed data from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) to compile Germany's vacancy index. For the Index, only apartments (not private homes) were considered, which could be leased directly, and units were not considered unusable.

The data show that approximately 2.8 per cent or more of 600,000 apartments are currently empty in Germany. While this is around 50,000 lower than it was five years ago, the situation has actually got worse in some areas, like Dessau-Roßlau, Suhl, Gera and Wilhelmshaven. The authors of the study expect that the number of vacant properties in Germany "especially in rural migration regions" will actually increase until 2022.

West Germany is better than East Germany

The index shows major differences between the East and the West, as you would imagine. 6,1% of East Germany apartments (excluding Berlin) are actually vacant, compared with 2,2% in West Germany.

Pirmasens is the country's highest vacancy rate where 9.1% of apartments are unoccupied. Schwerin, Chemnitz, Frankfurt am Oder and Salzgitter are the next highest grades.

It is not shocking that Munich is just 0.2 percent at the bottom of the index. Follow closely Frankfurt am Main, Freiburg, Münster and Darmstadt. In areas where the population is declining, however, every twelfth dwelling is unused.

Shrinking regions build too much; cities develop insufficient

Reiner Braun, Member of the Executive Board of Emprica, not only attributes this disparity to population growth in big cities but also to the fact that "in spite of current vacancies in declining regions high quality properties are still developed." There are therefore many more new apartments than required in many cities.

According to Braun, the solution to the problem is to make shrinking regions desirable again. He recommends investing in towns, increasing the number of authorities or universities and making the town centres.

It also suggests renovating vacant apartments, instead of favoring greenfield construction, in valuable areas.

One flat, 1,749 supporters.

An ad for a small apartment led to a punch on Sunday afternoon in Berlin. Just 12 hours after the first listing of the apartment online, an unprecedented 1,749 house huntsmen appeared for a mass viewing organized by the land manager.

The spot to take picks is a two-room apartment on Meininger Straße in the sought-after Schöneberg district of Berlin near the city hall. The apartment is 54 square meters on the 3rd floor of a 1950s house and features a separate balcony - all warm for the bargain prices of 550 euros (including some extra costs like energy and water).

In an attempt to retain any sense of order as a panic threatened to break out in the staircase, the property manager used a megaphone to yell to the crowd. Only in groups of 20 to 30 would tenants have been able to access the apartment.

Reflection of the heated housing market in Berlin

Several people criticized the process and one woman told rbb that it seemed inhuman to invite so many people at once: "It was somehow offensive," she said. Another woman characterized the viewing as a "disaster," but said it represented the present stress on the housing market in Berlin. "It's not a case of isolation," she said.

The property manager, Rolf Harms, explained his decision, that a preselection of tenants had already been carried out, allowing hundreds of interested parties to visit at the same time. No one was able to see the apartment who was looking for a second home or had a high salary.