Berliners voted in favor of expropriating 240,000 apartments to stop rising rents

More than half of Berliners they approved a controversial proposal of the town hall of the capital of Germany expropriate around 240 thousand apartments to business owners, in order to curb a sharp increase in rents in this city.

Son empty properties which belong to private companies, which would receive financial compensation for an approximate value of 13.7 billion euros (approximately $ 16 billion).

The vote count for Sunday’s referendum showed that 56.4% of voters were in favor the measure of expropriation of properties, valued in billions of dollars, and 39% opposed.

As the German news agency DPA reported on Monday, the non-binding vote forces the Berlin authorities to consider expropriation the properties of major business owners in drastic measure to cool one of Germany’s hottest real estate markets.

Rentals have become out of reach for many residents in recent years. Proposal affect around 15% of rented apartments In Berlin.

Representatives of the initiative known as Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co, who has been offering it since 2019, welcomed the result and stressed that will exert pressure in the coalition dialogue for the Berlin government to implement the measure.

“We will never accept a delay in strategies or other attempts to stop the proposal,” said Kalle Kunkel, one of the rule’s promoters. “We will not stop pushing until the public ownership of social housing has been implemented, ”he condemned.

The implementation of the referendum will be in the hands of the Berlin government, which was also elected last Sunday. Voting is not legally binding, but it forces the authorities to deal with the issue.

Pullovers and propellants

Industry-related consultants predict the move will pressure Berlin lawmakers to tackle the housing problem in a city struggling with rising rents and rising house prices.

The platform which called for the referendum, Deutsche Wohnen & Co, believes on the contrary that it will be able to slow down rents and ensure affordable long-term rentals.

Across the road, Germany’s largest real estate group, Vonovia, warned they were coming years of confinement after the result.

“Expropriations do not solve the many problems in the Berlin real estate market, ”said CEO Rolf Buch, who asked politicians “develop more constructive solutions” which address the concern of many people that they cannot continue to pay the rent on their homes.

Some jurists, meanwhile, warn that if the Berlin Senate approved such a law, it would be subject to review. cataract of judicial resources.

In April 2021, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany canceled the government’s decision to impose a cap five-year rentals in the city.

In Berlin, the real estate crisis has worsened in recent years. The city that five years ago was considered the capital of Europe and one of the cheapest to live in, was shaken by financial speculation and companies started buying space to set up their headquarters.

Currently, four out of five Berliners rent and it is predicted that by 2030 the city will need at least 200 thousand new properties to deal with the housing problem.

Source: Agencies.

DS