Overview
- DIW reports the first stagnation in average dwelling size since records began and projects a drop of about six square meters by 2050 to roughly 88–88.5 m².
- Average home size climbed from 69 m² in 1965 to about 94 m² today, with floor space per person rising from around 20 m² to about 49 m².
- New-build apartments have been getting smaller since around 2005, a shift DIW says is now filtering into the overall housing stock.
- The share of one-person households has doubled to 41%—around half in cities like Berlin and Munich—tightening demand for smaller units as many larger homes become unaffordable.
- DIW cites an undersupply of small flats and urges converting oversized units and prioritizing well-designed, energy-efficient new builds, noting similar earlier trends in countries such as Belgium, Japan and Norway.