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Germany's political parties have placed housing policy at the centre of their campaigns ahead of the upcoming federal election, each offering starkly different visions for tackling the country’s worsening affordability crisis. With rents surging and housing supply lagging far behind demand, the issue has become a litmus test for competing ideologies, from state intervention to deregulation and market-driven solutions.
Here's a broad look at the different parties' housing manifestos, heading into the election:
The CDU/CSU has pledged to roll back the contentious Heating Act (GEG), arguing that climate goals should be achieved through carbon pricing rather than rigid mandates. Their focus is on stimulating new housing construction by streamlining regulations, accelerating approvals, and reinstating tax incentives for energy-efficient buildings. A proposed land transfer tax exemption for first-time buyers is meant to boost home ownership, while landlords who charge below-market rents could receive tax benefits under a new scheme currently being look at. Despite nodding to tenant protections, their manifesto is light on specifics regarding rent control.
By contrast, the SPD is campaigning on a platform of rent regulation and state intervention. The Social Democrats want to impose an indefinite rent brake, cap annual rent increases at 6%, and close loopholes that allow landlords to circumvent controls through furnished rentals or index-linked agreements. The party also aims to strengthen municipalities' rights to preemptively purchase land and to establish a federal housing association to ramp up social housing construction. A key pledge is limiting landlords’ ability to pass property tax costs onto tenants.
The Greens are even more aggressive in their tenant-friendly proposals. They advocate for a nationwide rent freeze in high-demand areas, tighter restrictions on evictions, and a dramatic expansion of public housing funding. Their climate policies would mandate stricter energy efficiency standards for buildings, paired with subsidies to offset costs. Like the SPD, they support a Germany Fund to finance municipal housing associations, but with an added emphasis on environmental retrofitting.
... and the parties unlikely to be making the running, this time around
The FDP, by contrast, remains firmly committed to free-market principles. The party rejects rent controls, arguing that they distort the market and discourage investment in new housing. Instead, the Liberals propose accelerating building approvals, reducing environmental and safety regulations, and aligning subsidies with emissions trading rather than direct government intervention. Their headline housing policy is a generous land transfer tax exemption on properties of up to €500,000 for first-time homebuyers, funded through cuts to other housing subsidies.
On the far left, The Left Party and Sahra Wagenknecht’s BSW call for radical state intervention, including a nationwide rent cap, strict curbs on conversions from rentals to owner-occupied units, and outright expropriation of landlords with more than 3,000 apartments. The Left also proposes banning evictions due to unpaid rent and mandating that once a home enters the social housing stock, it must remain there permanently. Financing would come from higher taxes on real estate profits and a 60% inheritance tax on estates above €3 million.
The AfD takes a nationalist-populist stance, blaming the housing crisis on migration policies and “overregulation.” Their platform includes abolishing land transfer and property taxes, deregulating construction standards, and prioritising German citizens for state housing assistance. At the same time, they would impose a 20% land transfer tax on non-EU buyers and reject EU-mandated environmental regulations in the building sector.
Housing and real estate economist Professor Tobias Just, in a wide-ranging interview with trade journal Immobilien Zeitung, notes that while all parties acknowledge the severity of the housing crisis, few provide a long-term vision. "What I lack most is a sense of vision—how do we want to shape our cities for the next 100 years?" he asks. Prof. Just criticises the CDU’s focus on home ownership incentives as unlikely to generate enough supply, while questioning the Greens’ and SPD’s reliance on rent caps and municipal interventions. He argues that excessive regulation leads to unintended consequences, such as shifting rental markets towards furnished apartments or short-term lets. He warns that without serious structural changes, Germany's housing shortage will persist regardless of who wins.
As election day approaches, the stakes for Germany’s housing market are high. With construction slowing, affordability deteriorating, and tenant protections in flux, the policies of the next government will shape the sector for years to come. Investors, developers, and renters alike are watching closely to see which vision prevails.