Country

Germany

Population

83,132,799

Cooperative

5%cooperative housing

Ownership

48%home ownership rate

Social/Public

3%social/public housing

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Housing Crisis

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.

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National programs

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.

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Cooperative Housing

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.

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Housing Market

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.

Resources in Germany

208 resources connected to this country

CoopFest

CoopFest is a one-day event taking place in Hamburg, Germany on November 8, 2025, dedicated to exploring the digital transformation of...

Hamburg•Germany

All Things Urban

All Things Urban is a global career platform and community for urban professionals, facilitating job opportunities and professional development...

Germany

Housing Crisis

National programs

Cooperative Housing

Housing Market

Resources in Germany

CoopFest

All Things Urban

build_shift e.V.

Collegium Academicum

GEN Europe

Proptech Summit

homer

ARCHY NOVA

we-house

Progeno Wohnungsgenossenschaft eG

menu surprise

Freimundo

BuildSystems

Neues Amt Altona eG

Schmidt Plöcker Architekten

Aurem Impact

LOEHR

Hoffnungsträger Stiftung

Green City Solutions

Made of Air

Alchemy

BuildingMinds

IMPACT FESTIVAL 2025

Stattbau München

MvB

syte

Expo Real 2025

San Riemo

Architecture Matters 2025

Berliner Genossenschaftsforum

urbanistic

STATTBAU Hamburg

wohnbund

common agency

Timpla by Renggli

GenoDigital

GIMA Frankfurt

Alliance4Europe

ecoworks

Koop Wind

Würth

Demo Working Group

JUNG

ifau

HafenCity University Hamburg (HCU)

DGNB

Montag Stiftungen

Bürgerwerke

KVL Group

BetaPort

Germany

Housing Crisis

National programs

Cooperative Housing

Housing Market

Resources in Germany

CoopFest

All Things Urban

build_shift e.V.

Collegium Academicum

GEN Europe

Proptech Summit

homer

ARCHY NOVA

we-house

Progeno Wohnungsgenossenschaft eG

menu surprise

Freimundo

BuildSystems

Neues Amt Altona eG

Schmidt Plöcker Architekten

Aurem Impact

LOEHR

Hoffnungsträger Stiftung