Overview

• Official statistics show 22.4% of renters were at risk of poverty in 2024, up two percentage points from 2023.
• The tenure gap widened as homeowner poverty risk fell to 8.3% in 2024 from 10.9% three years earlier, with the overall rate at roughly 15.5%.
• Independent data indicate new-contract rents rose 3.8% year on year in the second quarter of 2025, signaling a persistently tight market.
• BSW leader Sahra Wagenknecht calls the situation a shameful indictment, urging rent freezes at least until 2030, a return to non-profit rules, and low-interest support for public and non-profit building, while criticizing the rent brake as ineffective.
• The federal government promotes a ‘Bauturbo’ to speed approvals, noting a 2.9% rise in H1 building permits to 110,000, as the VdK social association presses for more social and accessible housing and a stronger rent brake beyond 2029.