Contents page 1 — A heart for shareholders page 2 — Only the Biggest survived On a page to read

There are days like this, the second Thursday in April, at which the wrath of the Berlin tenant inflamed. The housing group Deutsche Wohnen has just fought for a victory for his shareholders in front of the Berlin district court in the first place. He is now allowed to increase the rent, and indeed also about the limits of the “mietspiegel”. The approximately six euros per square meter, the company is not enough, the the lease, which at this time for a medium-sized apartment in a middle location in older buildings. It was in the process to increase from 42 euros for an apartment in Zehlendorf, which may, in the future, cost 575 euros. That alone doesn’t sound like a lot of money. But it is the sum of the increases and their ever-faster succession. And it is a question that many big city residents and residents angry: How high the Rents are expected to rise, before finally, someone intervenes? That’s why 20,000 of Berlin have signed a referendum to expropriate companies such as Deutsche Wohnen.

The company is combative. “We will not allow ourselves to expropriate. We will not be expropriated,” Deutsche Wohnen CEO Michael Zahn defiantly on a podium event. The company has complied with the law. And it feels, moreover, by the basic law protected. “I can also see a lot of imagination is no reason for expropriation in the case of a company whose apartments are on average 60 square meters in size and for 580 Euro warm-up rents,” says Tooth. Understand the anger of residents and the referendum he has not. The average rent in the apartments of the group were in Berlin, at € 6.71. It sounds harmless and not according to the big rip-off, as it brought to do up residents initiatives.

27 percent rent increase in decade

But in fact, Deutsche Wohnen has raised the prices of their apartments in the past ten years. This is documented by publications of the Federal Institute for construction, urban and spatial research (BBSR), as well as information provided by the company itself. Accordingly, the average rent was in 2009 when a total of 5.29. So, an increase of 27 percent in ten years. The General rise in prices, Inflation rose in the same period by only around 13 per cent, so about half as much. A company spokesman made the point that You had to see that Berlin come from a “low level”. Previously, Berlin had located with his Rent at the level of Bielefeld.

Meanwhile, by the way, it is at the level of Düsseldorf. Although the Rent went up in Berlin as a whole much stronger than in the apartments of the group: In the past ten years, have doubled the number of Berlin rental rates. In the case of new Contracts they are now often at twelve euros per square meter. And also in the case of the state-owned housing companies, Housing has become more expensive. While the were but in the last few years, driving the Deutsche Wohnen, especially since the 2014 housing prices increasingly upward, to around 3.7 percent per year.

The Deutsche Wohnen owns many apartments in the city, more than 111,500. Approximately every tenth capital budget lives in their holdings. Many are social housing, or those who were formerly social housing, but today the group. Many of them are in rather bad locations, on major roads. For the majority of low-income earners, living in such apartments, it is even harder to keep up with the rent increases step, says Stefan Kofner. He is a Professor of housing Economics at the University of Zittau, and studied how to drive the large publicly listed residential property companies in Germany, the market: “The incomes of most tenants are not likely to have increased since 2010, according to the course.”

Low wages, high Rents

The group sees it differently. It is true that the Berlin Rent increased more than the income of the inhabitants, say to the speaker: “Berlin has absolute Boom in the income.” Data of the employment Agency and the Berlin state statistical office, the disprove, according to Berlin’s salaries increased recently, though slightly more than that of German citizens (1.7 instead of 1.6%). But the average Berliner is a gross salary of 3.126 euros a month have cut, compared to 3.209 euros in Federal – Bielefeld come to 3.310 Euro. Düsseldorf earn even 3.882 Euro gross. One expects that in large cities, many of the academics pull the section upwards and it is only the employees with vocational training or no education – are more likely to represent the Bulk of the inhabitants of the German Stay –, you earn in Berlin, 2,200 to 2,800 euros gross. This is also less than in the Germany-wide average.

Just the main city, the higher Rent do so much more to create, this is evidenced by a different number of Stefan Kofner: “The housing cost burden ratio is in Berlin, now at 35 percent on average.” More than a third of their net disposable income from the people in the capital alone, for Living. From 30 percent of Economists believe this rate is generally too high, but not more affordable. Then the tenant would have to restrict the consumption elsewhere, especially in food or education. Kofner says: “I’m going to assume that many tenants endure in for you in the meantime, much to expensive apartments and save until it squeaks.”