Six million tenants are extremely overloaded in Germany

Six million tenants overburdened

Tenants’ Association: “The situation on the housing market is dramatic”

Housing is increasingly becoming a luxury good: A new report shows how drastically the rent burden has increased in Germany and who is particularly affected.

According to the current rent report from the German Tenants’ Association (DMB), around six million tenants are considered “extremely overburdened” because they have to spend a large part of their income on housing costs. Low-income households are particularly affected, but middle-class people are also coming under increasing pressure.

According to the study, 13 percent of tenants are already extremely overburdened because they have to spend over 40 percent of their disposable income on rent and additional costs. Households with children are particularly at risk of rising rents and are increasingly less likely to find affordable housing. Almost one in three people fear rising rents, and many even fear losing their homes.

The tenants’ association warns: It is no longer just the socially weakest who are affected by this development. People who have an average income and live above the poverty line are also increasingly affected. Their share of those exposed to extreme stress has more than doubled since 2020.

More than half of the population – around 52.8 percent – ​​lived in rent in 2024. In the past five years, the number of tenants in Germany has increased by almost three million to over 44 million.

The German Tenants’ Association now sees the Federal Government as having a particular responsibility. President Melanie Weber-Moritz is calling for decisive action to stop the housing crisis: “Housing is a human right, and the federal government must take significantly more decisive steps to secure affordable housing for everyone in Germany.” The market alone will not solve the problem.

The tenants’ association’s central demands include a tighter rent control, better protection against dismissal and stricter regulation of short-term rentals, which take apartments away from the regular rental market.

A housing construction offensive is also needed: by 2030, the stock of social housing must double, and 60,000 new affordable rental apartments should be built every year, especially for normal earners. The association also calls for speculation on the housing market to be curbed in order to limit price increases and ensure long-term stable rental relationships.