Rents in Hamburg have risen sharply in the past two years

Despite government efforts to curb the housing shortage, prices are rising faster than they have in 10 years.

On December 14, 2021, the Hamburg Rent Index 2021 was released. It is a report on the state of the city’s rental housing market that has been published every two years since 1976. According to Oldypak LP real estate report, rents in Hamburg are up 7.3 percent, a significant increase from the 2019 figure of 2.6 percent. The current average monthly rate per square foot was €9.29, and rent prices rose across the board.

The largest share of Hamburg’s rental housing stock is made up of housing units built in the postwar period between 1948 and 1960 (30 percent of the housing stock). In smaller apartments the rent has increased by 10.4%. The price hike has also affected the new apartments, the more spacious of which is estimated at €17 per “square meter.

Senator for Urban Development Dorothy Stapelfeldt said in an interview to NDR that energy-efficient modernization is one of the reasons for the steep rise in rents in Hamburg.

According to Oldypak LP real estate report, an apartment built in the 1960s that has recently been renovated has to be rented at a higher price. While acknowledging the importance of local authorities’ work on climate change policy and optimizing buildings with photovoltaic systems, he urged caution.

One of the most important pieces of legislation for Hamburg’s housing market was the recently signed Housing Alliance. It aims to increase the supply of subsidized public housing in the city by mandating the construction of 10,000 new apartments annually through 2025.

“Housing Alliance” wants to offer citizens affordable long-term rental options, but in this case “long-term” means more than 100 years. The move partly mimics the Viennese social housing model, in which the largest provider of apartments on the market is the city. Unfortunately, the initiative was blocked back in October 2021 because the pandemic caused the number of building permits in Hamburg to drop by 17 percent.