People in Germany marched to protest against high prices, evictions and housing shortages, Tagesspiegel reported.
For the first time in three years, a broad coalition took to the streets together for a major rent demonstration. Thousands of people gathered for the rent demonstration in Berlin on Saturday afternoon. Protest is caused because of rising rent prices, shortage of housing and evictions.
There were also many children and pensioners who protested together under the slogan “Rents are too high!” Shortly before 4 p.m. the police estimated the number of participants at 4,500, but the organisers themselves spoke of 12,000 participants. The demonstration began at 2 p.m. in Potsdamer Platz.
The appeal came from an alliance of around 150 tenant initiatives, housing communities and organisations such as the Berlin Tenants’ Association and the Verdi Union. It calls for radical changes in housing policy. The organisers are calling for, among other things, a nationwide rent ceiling, a referendum Expropriation of Deutsche Wohnen & Co as well as a ban on personal termination and forced evictions.
The centre-left in the Bundestag considers rent price increases to be a threat to many regions. In the Baltic Sea region and on the Polish-German border, for example, many people have low incomes, which makes renting simply unaffordable.
Which regions have the highest rents?
Pressure on the rental market in Germany’s major cities has been growing for years. But new data shows that things are getting significantly more expensive even in regions where you wouldn’t expect it.
In Berlin, rents for new tenants have recently risen more sharply than anywhere else in Germany – up 30 per cent, according to the federal government’s response to an enquiry from the Left in the Bundestag.
Nevertheless, Potsdam recorded the largest increase in first-time and second-time rentals among all districts and independent cities last year, with an increase of 31.2 per cent. The capital followed with a 26.7 per cent increase. The figures were provided by the Federal Institute for Building, Urban and Spatial Research (BBSR).
Germany’s least populated area also made the top ten: in Prignitz in the far north-west of Brandenburg, rents rose by 18 per cent between 2022 and 2023. Two areas in the rather sparsely populated state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are also showing high rent growth: the Baltic Sea region of Western Pomerania-Rügen around Stralsund with an increase of almost 20 per cent and the district of Western Pomerania-Greifwald on the Polish border with more than 15 per cent. percent. The region is popular with tourists and includes the islands of Rügen, Usedom and Hiddensee as well as the Fischland-Dars-Zingst peninsula with its seaside resorts, Tagesspiegel said.
Rents have also increased significantly in the Upper Palatinate district of Tirschenreuth near the Bavarian-Czech border – plus 23.9 per cent, Kaiserslautern – plus 19.3 per cent, Kaufboeren – 17.4 per cent, Trier-Saarburg – 15.8 per cent and the Wunziedel district of Fichtelgebirge – plus 15.6 per cent.
On a national average, rents for first-time and repeat tenants rose by 7.3 per cent last year. While the average flat had to pay 10.55 euros per square metre, in Berlin the same area cost more than 16 euros. This means that the capital is now the second most expensive city to rent in Germany.
