Leading a Life: Surviving [_1_] - Rising rental rates are most evident in the nation's capital area.
Berlin sees one of the highest rental hikes in Germany as new tenants face a 26.7% increase in rent compared to the previous year, revealed a federal government response to a request from the Left Party. Potsdam tops the chart with a 31.2% increase, making it the district with the highest rent hike.
The Federal Institute for Building, Urban and Regional Research (BBSR) obtained this data and analyzed the supply available to tenants searching for an apartment online. The study focused on living spaces measuring 40-100 square meters. Surprisingly, the least populated district in Germany, Prignitz, also made it to the top ten with a 18% increase from 2022-2023. Two other sparsely populated districts in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern showed high rent hikes: Ostsee-Landkreis Vorpommern-Rügen (near Stralsund, 19.6%) and Landkreis Vorpommern-Greifwald (on the Polish border, 15.4%).
The Left Party fears a dire situation, as many people living in these areas have low incomes. "Rents on the Baltic Sea and the German-Polish border will become unaffordable," they warned.
Apart from these regions, some areas also experienced significant rent hikes after a move. For example, Tirschenreuth near the German-Czech border witnessed a 23.9% rise, Kaiserslautern saw a 19.3% increase, Kaufbeuren registered a 17.4% increase, and the Trier-Saarburg district along with the Wunsiedel district in the Fichtelgebirge experienced a 15.8% and 15.6% increase respectively.
Average rents across Germany rose by 7.3% in the same period, with the average apartment costing 10.55 euros per square meter. However, this price skyrocketed to more than 16 euros per square meter in Berlin, ranking it as the second most expensive rental city in the country.
BBSR attributed the higher rents to various factors, but the Left Party in the Bundestag demands a national rent cap. "The Scholz government must provide the strength to shield tenants from astronomical rent hikes," they insisted. Caren Lay, a Bundestag deputy, made a plea to the government to introduce a nationwide rent cap. "It's high time the Scholz government stepped up and defended tenants from rent-gouging," she added.
