The current housing shortage in Germany is also due to people’s increased need for space. In the past ten years, the average available living space has increased faster than the population in Germany, according to figures from the Federal Statistical Office.
At the end of last year, there was more living space per capita available to citizens than at the end of 2012. At the end of the year, there were 43.4 million apartments in Germany, as reported by the authorities. That was 0.7 percent more than a year earlier and 6.3 percent more than at the end of 2012. With 295,300 new apartments, the federal government’s annual target of 400,000 new units per year was again missed in 2022.
The total living space increased in the ten-year period by 7.4 percent to 4.0 billion square meters. Each of the 84.4 million inhabitants (4.8 percent since 2012) had an average living space of 47.4 square meters at their disposal, at least in mathematical terms. That was 1.2 square meters or 2.6 percent more than ten years ago. On average, 1.9 people lived in an apartment. Vacancies and unequal distribution of space are, however, ignored in the average view based on building statistics.
