Germany

Germany’s housing market in mid-2025 is characterized by a persistent housing shortage, rising rents, and renewed price growth for both houses and apartments. The percentage of people renting remains among the highest in Europe: about 55% of residential properties are rented, while homeownership stands at approximately 47%, reflecting Germany’s cultural preference for renting and regulatory protections for tenants. The most recent national median rent is around 13–15 euros per square meter per month for apartments. For purchases, the average price per square meter for an apartment is about 4,000–4,900 euros, though this varies significantly by region, with much higher prices in urban centers. Publicly owned housing plays a limited but crucial role. Just under 1 million social housing units currently exist, but this stock has sharply declined from nearly 4 million in the late 1980s. Social housing in Germany refers specifically to state-subsidized apartments available at cost rent to qualifying low-income households, subject to certain conditions and regulated under national housing law. Public housing, in contrast, can refer more broadly to all dwellings owned by public entities, municipalities, or non-profit cooperatives, some of which are not subject to the same strict eligibility rules or rent controls as social housing. Thus, while all social housing is public, not all public housing qualifies as social housing, especially in cities where municipal housing companies also let apartments at market rates.

Germany is facing a severe housing crisis, with an estimated shortage of approximately 550,000 apartments in 2025, particularly affecting affordable and social housing. This gap has been widening due to a sharp decline in new construction: only around 251,900 new flats were built in 2024, a drop of over 14% compared to the previous year, and building permits have fallen to their lowest level since 2010. The slowdown is most acute in the country’s major cities such as Munich, Berlin, and Hamburg, where demand consistently outpaces supply. While prices for property and rents have stabilized somewhat after previous steep increases, rents in German cities have still risen by more than 50% over the past decade, and experts forecast further rent hikes of 4–5% per year. The crisis impacts wide segments of the population, especially low-income earners, young adults, families, single parents, and migrants—groups who are disproportionately reliant on the shrinking stock of affordable or social housing. Middle-class renters also feel the strain, as housing affordability steadily declines and purchasing a home remains out of reach for many. Owner-occupiers face challenges from rising interest rates and construction costs, while larger single-family and duplex homes have seen the steepest decline in new builds. Regional disparities are pronounced, with the shortage most acute in urban centers and metropolitan regions. The overall result is a persistent, multi-layered crisis affecting millions and fueling social inequality.

Germany's national government is tackling affordable and sustainable housing through a combination of regulatory, fiscal, and investment-driven policies. Following the 2025 coalition agreement, the government aims to streamline planning processes, reduce construction costs, and offer robust financial support to boost housing supply, prioritizing social cohesion and climate targets. Recent targets include the annual construction of 400,000 new homes, with a substantial share designated as affordable or social housing. Despite persistent shortfalls in meeting these numbers, the government has renewed its commitment by earmarking 3.5 billion euros for social housing in 2025 and more than 20 billion euros through 2028. New incentive programs have been announced, such as tax breaks for landlords offering below-market rents through the Wohngemeinnützigkeit (“public benefit housing”) program, which provides deductions of €1,000–€2,000 per unit. Other initiatives include consolidating development bank (KfW) grants into two simplified programs—one for new, climate-friendly construction and another for energy-efficient renovations. Additional public guarantees and investment funds are aimed at lowering financing barriers. The government has also extended rent controls (Mietpreisbremse) until 2029 to limit rent increases in high-demand regions and is considering broader deregulation to speed up building approvals, encourage modular and serial building methods, and convert commercial sites into mixed-use residential zones. On the sustainability front, the government supports reinstating the EH-55 energy standard for buildings, which sets strict efficiency benchmarks for new construction.

Housing cooperatives play a significant and stable role in Germany’s housing sector. As of 2022, they managed approximately 2.2 million dwellings out of a national total of 43.1 million housing units, accounting for about 5% of the total housing stock. These cooperatives are a key part of the professionally managed rental sector and are known for offering below-market, affordable rents—about 90% of cooperative tenants pay less than 8 euros per square meter net cold rent, notably below national average rents. Despite the ongoing housing shortage and declining trends in new construction, the cooperative housing sector remains relatively resilient but faces similar challenges as the broader housing market, such as high construction costs and limited new project starts. In 2023, cooperative companies built only about 28,000 new homes, with projections for further declines in 2024. The German government encourages cooperative housing through various support measures, including access to low-interest loans from the KfW development bank, subsidies for energy-efficient refurbishments, and legislative frameworks that facilitate cooperative formation and maintenance. Cooperative housing is recognized as a stable, socially integrative form of tenure, but it is not the main focus of the latest government programs, which prioritize expanding the stock of social and affordable housing overall.

In Germany, a wide range of individuals and organizations have voiced commitment to addressing the housing crisis and advancing affordable, sustainable housing. Major real estate and construction industry associations, represented at the annual Wohnungsbau-Tag, have called for a rapid housing construction offensive focusing on cost-effective and simple construction methods. Notable NGOs include Housing for Future, an initiative rooted in the German housing industry and experienced in delivering affordable social housing both domestically and abroad. Strong academic leadership comes from institutions like the Bundesstiftung Bauakademie, with experts such as Prof. Dr. Guido Spars advocating for innovative, resource-efficient housing solutions. City-run and grassroots initiatives, such as the Netzwerk Leipziger Freiheit in Leipzig and Berlin’s Netzwerkagentur Generationenwohnen, support cooperative housing and cohousing models, acting as incubators for new ideas and offering consultation, financial advice, and networking. Potential collaboration partners include: - Academia: Bundesstiftung Bauakademie and its urban transformation researchers. - Real estate sector: Leading industry associations and major employers (e.g., Stadtwerke München, Charité Berlin) who also provide staff housing. - Startups: Companies involved in modular/serial construction and project-based cooperative housing. - NGOs: Housing for Future and the Deutscher Mieterbund, which advocate for tenants and affordable housing. Such multi-sector partnerships offer strong potential to jointly tackle the housing shortage with scalable, climate-conscious, and socially inclusive approaches.