Berlin

1. Hidden Bunker Tours: Beneath the bustling streets of Berlin, there are remnants of Cold War bunkers that are not widely known to the public. Some of these bunkers have been converted into museums, offering guided tours that explore the city's history during the division era. 2. The Berlin Underworlds: Berlin has an extensive network of underground tunnels and bunkers that were used for various purposes throughout history, including as escape routes and air raid shelters. Some organizations offer tours to explore these hidden passages, revealing a different side of the city's history. 3. The Spreepark: Once a vibrant amusement park in East Berlin, Spreepark has been abandoned since 2002 and is now a hauntingly beautiful site filled with overgrown attractions and rusted rides. Guided tours are available, providing a glimpse into its past and the stories behind its decline.

In Berlin, approximately 85% of residents rent their homes, making it one of the highest renter rates in Europe, with home ownership remaining around 15%. The housing market is highly pressured by a persistent shortage. As of mid-2025, the median price to buy an existing apartment is about €4,980 per square meter, while new build apartments fetch around €7,980 to €8,420 per square meter. Median asking rents have sharply increased, with new leases averaging about €15.79 per square meter, while legacy rents remain lower, often around €7.67–€8.43 per square meter in central districts. Publicly owned housing plays a significant role, accounting for roughly a sixth of the city’s housing stock. The city has taken proactive steps, including a 2021 referendum approving the socialization of properties owned by large corporate landlords, converting them into permanently affordable social housing under public or community control. In Berlin, public housing and social housing are not identical. Social housing specifically refers to dwellings built with public subsidies and subjected to rent and eligibility controls for a limited period. Once the subsidy period ends, these apartments may revert to the regular market unless replaced by new subsidized units. Public housing, by contrast, refers more broadly to apartments owned by the city or municipal companies and may include both social and market-rate rentals. Thus, social housing is a subset of public housing, with unique regulations and temporary affordability guarantees.

Berlin is facing an acute housing crisis characterized by a significant shortage of affordable homes, rapidly rising rents, and a growing mismatch between supply and demand. The city currently faces a deficit of around 120,000 housing units, while annual construction rates remain far below what is needed; experts estimate Berlin requires at least 23,000 new flats each year just to keep pace with growing demand. Population growth—312,000 additional residents in the last decade—has intensified pressure on the market, as has the influx of refugees and international migrants. Median asking rents have jumped by over 12% in the past year, reaching about €15.79 per square meter for new leases, while prices for new-build apartments hover around €8,420 per square meter. This rapid rent escalation far outpaces income growth and makes only roughly one in four available flats affordable for average earners. For low-income residents, just one in twenty flats is considered affordable by local standards, with many spending 40% to 50% of their income on rent. The crisis most severely affects renters with low to moderate incomes, families, pensioners, young professionals, creatives, and refugees. The city’s celebrated international culture is also at risk as artists and startups are priced out. Meanwhile, social housing is dwindling, with just under 90,000 regulated units remaining, and public housing supply falls short of demand. The shortage is further aggravated by sluggish construction, high land and building costs, and a persistent rise in smaller single-person households.

Berlin’s city administration is addressing affordable and sustainable housing through ambitious, but challenging, construction goals and several targeted initiatives. The Berlin Senate’s current plan, set out in the “Housing 2040” strategy, aims to build 222,000 new housing units by 2040, targeting 20,000 new units annually to meet projected demand. However, construction rates are falling short, with around 15,000 units expected for 2025, well below target. To strengthen municipal intervention, the city is urging its six municipal housing companies to accelerate output, with a joint ‘Roadmap’ aiming to deliver about 12,000 additional units between 2025 and 2026, and another 3,500 by 2027. A major proposal involves building on Tempelhofer Feld—one of Berlin’s largest inner-city open spaces—a plan that remains contentious but could provide urgently needed supply. The city also continues to prioritize allocation of public land to municipal companies for affordable projects and supports cooperative housing. Sustainable development is integrated into housing goals: new builds must meet strict energy standards, and renovation programs are funded to improve energy efficiency and lower emissions. Berlin’s approach combines boosting supply, strengthening public and cooperative housing, and implementing stricter rental controls. While financial and land constraints persist, the city’s stated targets and recent measures reflect a dual focus on affordability and sustainability, with the housing sector recognized as essential to social cohesion and climate strategy.

In Berlin, housing cooperatives play a significant role in the city’s housing landscape. They own about 200,000 apartments, representing roughly 8.5 to 12% of all housing units in Berlin, spread across around 100 distinct cooperatives. This places the cooperative sector as a substantial, mature alternative to both private rental and municipal housing. Larger cooperatives with geographically dispersed holdings have expanded most robustly in the past decade, sometimes growing by hundreds of units annually. Expansion is driven by committed management, but rising land and construction costs challenge affordability, and there is tension between growth ambitions and maintaining cooperative solidarity. The cooperative sector continues to steadily expand, with more than 600 new cooperative homes being added each year since 2015, although this growth is constrained primarily by limited land availability. Rents in cooperative housing are generally below market rates, offering a buffer against the city’s escalating rental prices. Berlin actively supports cooperatives through policies that offer them priority access to public land for new construction and integration in broader strategies for affordable housing. The city’s “Housing 2040” plan explicitly references the promotion of cooperative housing as part of its efforts to boost supply and sustain social cohesion. Overall, Berlin’s cooperative housing sector is stable, growing, and seen as a cornerstone of the city’s long-term housing and urban development policy.