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Rents for student flats rising in German university cities

November 7th 2018

By Xinhua

Students in Germany currently have to pay up to two thirds more for their apartments than they used to in 2010, a study by the German Economic Institute (IW) published on Monday shows.

In the German capital Berlin, the price for a student flat increased by 67.3 percent over the last eight years.

"Only the construction of new apartments will ease the situation at the university locations," said Michael Voigtlaender, head of the research unit for real estate markets at IW and co-author of the study. "However, the cities are still lagging behind the growth in population."

In 2018, prices for student housing rose most significantly in Berlin, the study states. Compared with one year ago, students in Berlin currently have to pay 9.8 percent more for their rents.

Rents in the cities of Heidelberg, Frankfurt and Bamberg have also risen recently by over 6 percent.

According to the study, students in Munich pay the highest rents in Germany with an average of 600 euros (688 U.S. dollars) per month, followed by Frankfurt with 488 euros per month.

In order to create affordable apartments that are in proximity to the city centers, IW housing expert Voigtlaender suggests that cities also need to be "redensified".

The number of students has risen sharply in German university cities such as Berlin, Munich, Cologne and Hamburg as well as in the region Ruhr Valley. In the fall semester of 2010/2011, a total of 2.22 million people attended German universities, compared to 2.84 million last fall semester.

According to the IW study, housing always costs more when the citizens of a city have a higher income. This would be particularly true for the cities of Munich and Heidelberg which both are large university towns as well. Students would therefore be competing more and more with high-income households.