Housing problem in Germany continues to worsen

According to a recent study, the situation for apartment seekers in Germany is becoming increasingly difficult. Michael Voigtländer, the real estate market expert at the Cologne Institute for Economic Research, stated to the newspapers of the Funke Media Group that the housing construction problem in Germany is immense. The employer-affiliated institute had originally estimated that 308,000 new apartments per year were necessary. New findings now increase this requirement to 372,000 apartments annually. A decisive factor for the increased demand is the unexpectedly high immigration. Only 295,000 apartments were completed nationwide last year. At the beginning of its term, the federal government had set out with the ambitious goal of creating 400,000 new apartments annually. Voigtländer emphasized the urgency of significantly increasing construction activity now, as the pressure on the rental housing market will clearly increase. The problem is particularly evident in Germany's seven largest cities: On average, only 59 percent of the needed apartments are being built. As a result, rents for new leases, especially in metropolitan areas, are rising much more sharply than in previous years.