Berlin approved this Sunday in a referendum the expropriation of 240,000 homes so that the State can regulate the real estate market, a highly concentrated sector where speculation reigns.
The measure, in addition to the government’s purchase of 14,750 homes, is expected to have a strong impact given that 80% of Berlin’s population rents their homes.
The referendum was held together with the general elections that defined the political space that will succeed Angela Merkel, who leaves power after 16 years. With a total of 3,763 polling stations scrutinized, 56% voted in favor of the expropriation while 38% voted against.
Now, the initiative will go to the Senate, which must ratify whether or not it advances in the expropriation, which is covered by article 15 of the German constitution, which enables the possibility of having “land, natural resources and means of production, which can be placed under a regime of collective property or other forms of collective management. by a law that fixes the way and the amount of the compensation ”.
The measure would reach companies that have in their possession more than 3,000 properties, What the real estate company Deutsche Wohnen, which has around 113,000 properties. However, according to some international media, there is the possibility of judicial presentations to prevent the expropriation from taking effect.
In the last moment, Berlin went from being one of the cheapest cities in the region to seeing sudden increases in rents, a phenomenon that citizens attribute to the concentration that exists in the market. This month, after lengthy negotiations, the State in Berlin bought 14,750 homes and 450 premises for 2,500 million euros, while in 2019 it had already bought 6,000 houses from the real estate agency Aldo Properties.
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