According to the study "The East German Housing Market after Reunification" by the German Institute for Economic Research, rents in eastern Germany have converged with those in western Germany over the past 30 years. Thus, a high increase in rental costs can be observed in eastern German cities. According to the survey results, tenants are satisfied with their housing situation despite the rising gross cold rent in relation to the slightly developing net income.
The increase in the burden of rental costs is primarily affecting low-income households. While in 1990 the rate of rental cost burden for low-income private households in the east was 4 percent, in 2018 it was 24 percent. The ratio for higher-earning households rose from 4 to 24 percent over the same period. In western Germany, the slope of the rental cost burden is much flatter in comparison. This is because while the ratio was already 20 percent for low-income families in 1990, it rose by only eleven points to 31 percent by 2018. For upper-income families, the ratio changed by only 5 points, from 20 to 25 percent.
Likewise, the analysis shows changes in the size of living space per person. In 1990, tenants in eastern Germany were entitled to only 30.5 square meters per capita. By 2018, the living space entitlement for one person had risen to 44.2 square meters, an increase of 13.7 square meters in total. In West Germany, on the other hand, the living space entitlement was already 42.3 square meters in 1990 and increased by 6.2 to 48.5 square meters by 2018. The study evaluations also show that tenants in the east are even slightly more satisfied with their housing and living situation than in the west. On a scale of 1 to 10, the satisfaction score for eastern German tenants was 7.4 points in 2018 and 7.3 in the west.
Source: DIW
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