Overview
- More than 52.8% of people in Germany—about 44 million—now rent, an increase of roughly three million over five years, according to the Deutscher Mieterbund’s 2025 report.
- About six million renters spend over 40% of their income on housing, with 12.8 million fearing future unaffordability and seven million fearing the loss of their home.
- Families are hit hard, with around 30% living in overcrowded homes by EU criteria, and 16% of the population reporting defects such as damp, mold or damaged roofs.
- The study finds the strain has expanded into the middle class, with the share of non-poor households that are extremely burdened more than doubling since 2020.
- The Mieterbund urges tighter rent curbs, action on index rents and short-term lets, and a social-housing push, as the Left introduces a tougher anti–rent-gouging bill and the coalition points to the ‘Bauturbo,’ an extended rent cap, and a Mietrechtskommission reporting by end‑2026.