Berlin’s Barren Housing Market Is Putting Its Tech Boom at Risk
- Lack of housing undermines the city’s appeal for tech talent
- Polls show voters will likely oust the Social Democratic mayor
An apartment building near the the Fernsehturm tower in central Berlin.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Berlin’s new tech recruits are being told to take any apartment they can get, even if it’s nowhere close to the trendy neighborhoods that may have lured them to the German capital.
The city’s housing crunch means startups in Berlin have lost an important edge, putting them on similar footing to rivals in London, Paris and Silicon Valley. That’s a challenge for a city that grew to become Europe’s third-largest tech hub in no small part because of its more affordable lifestyle.