4.3 percent of all apartments in Germany were vacant in 2022 - many of them for a long time
Particularly apartments in buildings with construction year before 1919 are reportedly vacant for more than a year in length, out of which two-thirds of the vacant apartments have been empty for at least a year. For apartments with construction year after 2015, it was about one-third.
In total, one in five vacant apartments had been vacant for less than three months. For nearly every fourth vacant apartment, renovations or construction work were planned or were currently taking place. For four percent of the vacant apartments, demolition was the reason for the vacancy.
According to the building and housing census 2022, approximately 23 million residential property owners and 8,000 housing companies provided information on their real estate. The Statistical Office asked for the first time about reasons and duration of vacancies. The cut-off date for the information was May 15, 2022.
In the 2022 building and housing census, it was revealed that approximately 4% of the vacant apartments in Germany were scheduled for demolition, which falls under the category of vacancies with a construction year of '-'.Engaging in renovations or construction work was reported for nearly every fourth vacant apartment with a construction year prior to 1919, amounting to approximately 25% of the vacant units.Four out of every 100 vacant apartments built before 1919 had been vacant for at least 4 years, with over two-thirds of them remaining empty for over a year, including 30% that remained vacant for 2022 and beyond.
