Vonovia Completes 90 Per Cent Fewer Apartments While Rents Keep Rising

Vonovia, Germany's largest residential real-estate company, completed close to 90 per cent fewer apartments for its own portfolio in the first nine months of 2026 compared with the same period in 2024, according to nine-month results published on 4 November 2026. The company's total portfolio — spanning Germany, Sweden and Austria — held 527,488 units at the end of September, more than 12,000 fewer than at the end of 2024. CEO Luka Mucic attributed the cutback to rising financing costs. The company also said it would pause new investments in energy-efficiency work on third-party housing under its so-called Manage-to-Green business.

Despite the shrinking portfolio, rents in Vonovia's comparable stock rose an average of 3.8 per cent. Local rent indexes (Mietspiegel) were the dominant driver, contributing 2.3 percentage points — roughly 60 per cent of the total increase. Modernisations added a further 1.2 percentage points, while new construction contributed just 0.3 percentage points.

Across its entire portfolio, the average monthly cold rent stood at 8.57 euros per square metre at the end of September. In Germany specifically, the average was 8.41 euros per square metre — up 1.1 per cent year-on-year — which works out to roughly 505 euros a month for a 60-square-metre flat.

The Berliner Mieterverein tenant association has long warned that rent-index-based increases create a self-reinforcing spiral: accepted increases feed into future index calculations, enabling further rises — even where the original increases were unlawful.