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German metropolitan areas lack housing: study

Xinhua, August 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

Too few new flats are being built in Germany's metropolises, while some rural areas are facing oversupply, the Cologne Institute for the German Economy (IW) announced on Wednesday.

Around 245,000 dwellings were constructed last year in Germany. However, only 66,000 of those were in cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants.

IW Cologne estimated that 50 percent more, or 102,000 new flats, would be needed to meet demand.

In Berlin alone, 20,000 new homes have to be ready for occupancy per year by 2020, the experts pointed out. However, in some rural areas there are too many flats that are sitting empty, the research institution said.

The main reason for the opposite trend in Germany is, combined with low interest rates, municipalities in the countryside are trying to win over more businesses and residents through new, cheap construction areas, resulting in a high level of construction activity.

At the same time, more and more people are being drawn into the big cities, where construction land is scarce, according to IW's analysis.

Politics has to intervene here, said IW property expert Michael Voigtlaender, adding that "popular cities need to loosen the restrictions about the height of the building." Endit