Germany Eyes Ways to Control Rents as Giant Landlord Emerges
- Finance minister aims to act on squeeze in affordable housing
- SPD’s Scholz vows to ‘fight the real fight’ for cheap rents
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Germany will consider new ways to control rent increases as Vonovia SE seeks to upend the country’s already-tight housing market with a 19 billion-euro ($23 billion) bid for rival Deutsche Wohnen SE.
The goal is to allow half the population in large cities to have the right to subsidized apartments, Olaf Scholz -- the Social Democrats’ candidate for chancellor -- said in a Bloomberg webinar on Tuesday. Scholz, who currently serves as finance minister, called for the government to do more to ease the housing squeeze, including backing construction by cooperatives and public-sector companies.