Overview
- Residential prices rose 3.8% year over year in Q3, with a 4.6% jump in major cities, while new-contract rents increased 3.7% nationwide, according to VDP transaction data.
- Housing Minister Verena Hubertz called for tougher rules on index-linked leases and furnished rentals, citing abuses that sidestep rent caps; an expert commission is preparing proposals.
- Hubertz endorsed a Fehlbelegungsabgabe that charges higher-earning tenants in social housing, invoking the Hessian model, and pointed to roughly €50 billion in planned social-housing investment through 2029.
- Berlin extended the Mietpreisbremse to the end of 2029 and prolonged its conversion ban to 2030, while Mecklenburg-Vorpommern renewed curbs in Rostock and Greifswald to 2028 and plans to add eight coastal towns.
- Germany’s top finance court opened hearings on challenges to the 2025 property tax model, a dispute that could affect owners and tenants through pass-through costs, with rulings expected in December.