Overview
- Associations handed a positions paper to Berlin leaders Friday and toured cooperative projects to press for concrete help on land access and funding.
- Output has plunged: Bavarian cooperatives completed 879 homes in 2025 with a 2026 forecast of about 449, while Berlin recorded 178 completions in 2025 and expects roughly 160 this year.
- Associations say higher interest and building costs mean many new projects would need rents above €18 per square metre to break even, yet cooperative rents now average roughly €6.30–€6.75 per square metre.
- Vacancy in cooperative housing was about 0.9% at the end of 2025, leaving many societies unable to admit new members and creating bottlenecks for people seeking lower‑cost homes.
- Groups propose tools such as rent‑to‑buy access to public land, larger subsidies, and public purchase of existing stock because without state action the cooperatives’ historical role supplying affordable homes risks shrinking and tenants could lose a major low‑cost option.