Half of renters in Germany worry they won’t find a new home

According to a new report by the German Tenants’ Association, 50 percent of renters in Germany worry that their next home search will be unsuccessful.

DMB releases Rent Report 2026

The Rent Report 2026 by the German Tenants Association (Deutsche Mieterbund or DMB) has revealed some statistics which will ring true for many renters across Germany. The DMB interviewed 1.021 tenants between June 29 and July 7, 2026, to compile the representative study. 

While 50 percent of renters fear their next house search won’t be successful, 29 percent are worried they won’t be able to afford their rent in the future, and 58 percent have seen their rent and utility bills increase in the past 12 months. Renting in Germany is becoming increasingly unaffordable, also for middle-income earners. 

In April, government figures revealed that in 14 of the 15 largest German cities - Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Leipzig, Dortmund, Essen, Bremen, Dresden, Nuremberg and Duisburg - rents rose by an average of 44 percent between 2016 and 2025.

Berlin and Leipzig saw the biggest increases during this period. Landlords in the capital are now charging tenants an average of 69 percent more than they were in 2016, and in Leipzig, an average of 67 percent more. All other German cities have seen average rents rise by somewhere between 46 to 36 percent since 2016.

Wages have not risen to match this. Germany has just over 40 million households, and 20 million of them are renter households. According to another recent DMB study, of the around 20 million renting households, 3,2 million pay over 40 percent of their income before tax towards rent, and a further 3,4 million pay between 30 and 40 percent.

DMB: Welfare state is picking up the bill

Announcing the latest study, DMB president Melania Weber-Moritz said the German welfare state was picking up the bill for the affordable housing crisis. 

“For more and more people, housing is becoming a risk of poverty and social decline,” Weber-Moritz said in a press release. 

“And the welfare state is increasingly having to step in to address what is going wrong in the housing market. The housing crisis is turning into a crisis for the welfare state.”

But during the same period, many private landlords nearly doubled rents across Germany; the federal government, state governments and local authorities sold off large numbers of social housing units.

According to government statistics, the number of social housing units nationally has fallen by around 50 percent from 2,3 million in 2007 to 1,05 million in 2024. 

This is not only because units have been sold off and construction has slowed, but also because many social housing tenants have seen their “social binding” rental contract come to an end.

These social housing contracts typically last 10 to 15 years. When they end, tenants can stay in their home but must pay rent adjusted to market rates.