Den tyske valgkamp handler mest om klimaet og socialpolitik, men der er den samme dybe uenighed om ejendomsmarkedet som hidtil. Fronterne er de samme: Skal ejerne eller lejerne støttes politisk? Der er ikke den store bevægelse i holdningerne denne gang, men protesterne mod stærkt stigende priser for lejerne tager til. Ca. halvdelen af tyskerne bor til leje. Lejerne får dog stærkere kort på hånden med en socialdemokratisk ledet regering.
Housing policy concepts in Germany
The current election platforms are largely similar to those of 2017. The FDP, the
AfD, and the CDU/CSU continue to support supply-oriented housing policies, the
Left, the Greens, and the SPD prefer demand-oriented approaches.
The CDU and the FDP promise to reduce price and rent pressure by providing
additional supply and to offer incentives for renovation and retrofitting.
The AfD’s main goal is to increase the number of homeowners. However, with new
supply being limited, much of the potential additional demand will focus on existing
properties and thus increase rent and price pressures.
People who are living in rented homes and do not want to move will probably find
the plans of the SPD, the Left or the Greens attractive. All three parties want to put
a cap on rent increases. The Greens’ proposals might even imply a decline in rents
– something the Left are calling for anyway. The programmes of the Greens and the
Left in particular are highly detrimental to investment, which means that any
maintenance investments will be small – or even nonexistent.
Private households might see the ancillary costs of buying a home decline after
the elections. This time round, not only the AfD, the FDP, and the CDU/CSU, but the
Greens, too, are proposing to cut property transfer taxes.
The biggest surprise is perhaps that the FDP, too, are now against share deals used
by large-scale investors to reduce property transfer taxes.
Overall, the election programmes provide the usual bunch of broad, vague and
sometimes incompatible demands in the area of housing policy. None of the
parties has prepared a comprehensive concept. And none of them has paid
attention to what their demands may mean in terms of necessary labour, funds,
space, etc.
