Economics
Berlin Housing Backlash Spurs Drive to Nationalize Real Estate
- Referendum campaign seeks to expropriate large landlords
- Plan could cost $41 billion in compensation, builders say
Protestors walk along Karl Marx Allee in Berlin on April 6.
Photographer: Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images
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In Berlin earlier this month, a blond-haired girl carried a wooden placard as she marched with her parents and thousands of others at a demonstration against soaring rents. Her sign had a stark message: “My future? Sleeping under bridges.”
The girl’s poignant protest highlights the emotionally charged nature of the housing debate in Germany, and Berlin in particular. In the capital city, where residents have been buffeted by a sudden surge in costs, a movement is gaining momentum for a radical solution: nationalizing big chunks of the housing market.