Small Berlin Landlords Weigh In on Coalition's Housing Expropriation Plans

In an article published on 20 October 2026, the Tagesspiegel spoke with three small private landlords in Berlin about the proposed Red-Green-Red housing policy. While the coalition's flagship plan to socialize companies with 10,000 or more apartments — such as Vonovia and Covivio — does not directly affect small-scale private landlords, all three interviewees said the debate had shifted the political climate around property ownership. One argued that 'large corporations don't create new housing,' echoing the view that expropriation policy misidentifies the source of the housing shortage. Others expressed concern about knock-on effects: rising administrative costs, political uncertainty and investor caution in the Berlin property market. The coalition paper also proposes a 2% annual rent-increase cap for state-owned housing and sets a target of 100,000 new housing permits by 2031. The article reflects the broader tension between renter-focused policy ambitions and the views of property owners who argue that supply constraints — not ownership structures — are the root cause of Berlin's housing crisis.