Residents of Germany pay for the apartment up to half of their income

One-third of monthly net income: According to the old rule of thumb, this is the maximum that should be spent on rent, no more. This is logical: after all, after deducting all fixed expenses, there should be enough money to live on.

In fact, an average of 27.8% of income was spent on rent in Germany last year. But these are just average numbers. In 2022, about 1.5 million households carried a so-called rent burden of 50% or more. As a result, there is nothing or almost nothing left for other needs.

The situation is especially tense in large cities, and at present it is even worsening. In the first half of this year, rents in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart and Leipzig increased by an average of 6.7%. Cause? The ongoing demand for living space, the crisis of new construction and the wait-and-see attitude of property buyers.

“So we need more apartments. Financing, prohibition of waste and serial, i.e. simple, construction can help,” the market expert comments. “And then there’s the law on housing rent: in a coalition agreement, the SPD, FDP and the Greens agreed to extend the rent brake, lower the limit on its growth and introduce clearer indices.” In fact, these are quite specific goals, but, unfortunately, none of them has been implemented yet.

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