Amid the worst German housing shortage in over 20 years, Housing Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD) has encouraged residents to move to the countryside to find affordable homes.
Housing Minister Klara Geywitz has urged residents to move to the countryside where “almost 2 million houses are empty” to avoid the rising cost of renting and buying a house in major German cities. “Two-thirds of the German population live in regions where housing is affordable,” said Geywitz. “But there is a huge demand in our large cities and metropolitan areas."
Despite a rent break introduced in 2015 and extended in 2024, Daniel Halmer, CEO of Conny - a company which helps tenants secure rent reductions if they find they are being charged illegally high amounts - estimates that 75 percent of Berliners are paying too much for their monthly rents. According to data from Immoscout24, in the first months of 2023 Berlin and Stuttgart saw extreme increases of around 8 and 9 percent for new rental flats.
Despite Geywitz’s advice, there is evidence that these rent rises have been spilling into towns and villages, particularly since the outbreak of coronavirus. In 2021, rents increased significantly in medium-sized cities (those with up to 100.000 residents) from 3,4 percent in 2020 to 4,1 percent this year. Similarly, rents in small towns (those with up to 20.000 residents) rose by 5,1 percent in 2021, an increase of 2 percent from 2020.
For many people, the shift to working from home pushed by coronavirus measures meant that moving to the countryside, a town or a village became possible or more inviting.
In March 2024, the Ifo Institute in Munich declared that the trend of working from home is here to stay for employees in sectors where it is possible. In the month before the study was published, 24,1 percent of employees in Germany reported at least partially working from home.
But Geywitz believes the shift is insufficient for enticing more people into country living. “Before the end of the year, we will have a strategy to fill the empty houses [in the German countryside],” said the minister.
Geywitz’s is a three-point plan. First, establishing home office entitlement in certain professions and creating incentives for employees to work from home. Second, improving public transport between large cities and surrounding towns and villages and third, developing Germany’s fibre optic internet infrastructure. The minister said that the federal government is working with municipalities to develop a range of new measures and further details will follow in November.
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