Nationalization, rent control and tax hikes: Berlin's new coalition intends to fight landlords

Berlin's new coalition, led by the left-wing party "Die Linke", intends to fight landlords through the nationalization of large real estate companies, rent control, and tax increases. The initial agreements include the nationalization of five major companies each holding more than 10,000 apartments, at a maximum cost of 16 billion euros.

Berlin's new coalition, led by the left-wing party "Die Linke", intends to fight landlords through nationalization, rent control, and tax increases. The initial agreements, announced last Saturday, include the nationalization of five large real estate companies each holding more than 10,000 apartments: Vonovia, Adler, Heimstaden, Covivio, and DVI, at a maximum cost of 16 billion euros. Additional measures include completing a rental contract registry, enforcing the city's rent control price (Mietspiegel), limiting rent increases in municipal corporation apartments to 2% per year, and requiring landlords with a medium number of properties to allocate some of them to low socio-economic status populations. The coalition faces a deficit of 68 billion euros and plans to raise about 400 million euros per year through tax increases, including raising the real estate purchase tax from 6% to 8%. Berlin's real estate market is already paralyzed, and apartment prices have fallen by 20% in the last two years.