The January 2020 issue of the trade magazine "DW Die Wohnungswirtschaft" focuses on the housing market and its developments in rural areas in Germany. Even though the population in Germany has increased overall, the population figures in rural areas are declining rapidly. On the one hand, the ever-developing urbanization and migration of young people to urban areas is responsible for the population decline. Another factor is the negative population trend, which is reflected in low birth rates and many deaths.
According to data from the GdW Bundesverband deutscher Wohnungs- und Immobilienunternehmen (Federal Association of German Housing and Real Estate Companies), one-third of organized companies have recorded an increase in vacancies in rural areas over the past five years in both eastern and western Germany. The existence of many housing companies based there is threatened, as some have double-digit vacancy rates. And apartment owners, on the one hand, are unable to find new tenants for the vacant apartments and, on the other, lack the financial resources for necessary modernization measures.
Another problem for the ever-increasing housing vacancy is that young people who stay in the country often build a new house. In this way, new residential properties are created and the family home ultimately remains empty. This creates an even greater oversupply in the real estate market and even more vacancies in the future. To counteract the population decline in rural areas, an all-German urban redevelopment program is needed, as well as measures to make rural areas attractive again.
Source: DW
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