Federal building minister recommends moving to the country

In order to alleviate the housing shortage in the cities, Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz wants to persuade more people to move to the countryside. “There are an estimated 1.7 million vacant apartments in Germany. The majority of these apartments are in rural areas," said the SPD politician to the newspapers of the Funke media group (Wednesday) in Essen. If it were possible to make life in the country more attractive, more people would decide to live there and the housing market in the cities would be relieved.

Geywitz said she signed an administrative agreement on urban development funding on Tuesday. "In 2023 alone we will provide another 790 million euros to finance projects to preserve inner cities and town centers and to make cities and communities more liveable," she said. In addition, public transport will be improved with the planned Deutschlandticket. There is also a need for more digitization and an even greater spread of home office.

The Association of Towns and Municipalities had previously called for people to use apartments in the country in order to alleviate the housing shortage in the metropolises. It is hardly noticed that "more than 1.3 million marketable apartments, especially in rural areas, are empty," said general manager Gerd Landsberg of the Funke media group. "It would therefore make sense to better develop these regions with good transport connections, for example through new or reactivated railway lines, so that people can live and live there well and inexpensively." Working from home creates new opportunities here.

"Unfortunately, we are not getting any closer to our goal with the call for ever cheaper rents or even the nationalization of housing associations," said Landsberg. The demand for apartments, especially in the metropolitan regions, is increasing unabated.

The federal government's goal of completing 400,000 new apartments per year is "barely achievable," Landsberg stated. There is a lack of land, building prices have risen significantly and there is also a lack of specialist companies that could erect the buildings. Rising interest rates are making financing more difficult, and the increasing demands for energy-efficient refurbishment are making construction even more expensive.

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