FILE PHOTO: German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks at a news conference with Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan (not pictured) at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, June 12, 2019. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke
June 14, 2019
BERLIN (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday it was right to make pricing on Germany’s booming rental market more transparent but warned that it had to remain attractive for private investors to build new housing stock.
Merkel said the best way to tackle a housing shortage was to build new homes. Affordable housing has become a hot topic in Germany, with an influx of people to big cities pushing up costs.
Berlin’s housing senator proposed a five-year rent freeze from January 2020 after thousands took to the streets in April demanding the expropriation of more than 200,000 apartments sold off to big private landlords. Shares in property companies dropped on the announcement.
(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Michelle Martin)
