I know that you guys focus on new apartments being the answer to the housing crisis; and I'm not against it. But I DO think there's another dimension to the problem that I haven't heard you talk about: the empty apartments that are already here. Investors are buying places to park their money, but they don't want to deal with putting them out for rent because a) it makes it more complicated to manage and b) it lowers the worth of the property to have a renter in there. These investors don't care about generating money from rent; they just want a place to stick their money were it will increase in value beyond inflation. In my own building there are three apartments that have been marked "Frei" on the buzzer since I moved in 10 years ago. Loky, the Pankow Newsletter, did a great writeup about this and included 5 examples. It's totally against the law, but, as Andrew likes to point out, Berlin seems to be somehow allergic to enforcing its own rules. If you'd like to check out the Loky article, you can find it here: https://www.loky.news/zweckentfremdung-unfall-m4-volksbegehren/
To be clear, enforcing the law and making these owners either rent their properties or live in them would not fix the problem; but, it would provide some relief by freeing up housing stock that doesn't need to be built, because it already exists.
The Crows Pajamas: Zionskirche at night
With the heatwave upon us, the time is perfect for long walks in the summer night, perhaps with a Wegbier. I can still remember vividly the first time I walked past Zionskirche in the dark; and it made me take a beat. During the day, it's just a neo-gothic church like many you'll find in Berlin, but at night... I swear to God it looks like some vampire prince, monster mastermind lives in the basement. It's straight out of the set of a horror film, and I can't recommend it enough. If I ever made a vampire film set in Berlin, I would totally film large parts of it at the Zionkirche. Check it out!
I know that you guys focus on new apartments being the answer to the housing crisis; and I'm not against it. But I DO think there's another dimension to the problem that I haven't heard you talk about: the empty apartments that are already here. Investors are buying places to park their money, but they don't want to deal with putting them out for rent because a) it makes it more complicated to manage and b) it lowers the worth of the property to have a renter in there. These investors don't care about generating money from rent; they just want a place to stick their money were it will increase in value beyond inflation. In my own building there are three apartments that have been marked "Frei" on the buzzer since I moved in 10 years ago. Loky, the Pankow Newsletter, did a great writeup about this and included 5 examples. It's totally against the law, but, as Andrew likes to point out, Berlin seems to be somehow allergic to enforcing its own rules. If you'd like to check out the Loky article, you can find it here: https://www.loky.news/zweckentfremdung-unfall-m4-volksbegehren/
To be clear, enforcing the law and making these owners either rent their properties or live in them would not fix the problem; but, it would provide some relief by freeing up housing stock that doesn't need to be built, because it already exists.
The Crows Pajamas: Zionskirche at night
With the heatwave upon us, the time is perfect for long walks in the summer night, perhaps with a Wegbier. I can still remember vividly the first time I walked past Zionskirche in the dark; and it made me take a beat. During the day, it's just a neo-gothic church like many you'll find in Berlin, but at night... I swear to God it looks like some vampire prince, monster mastermind lives in the basement. It's straight out of the set of a horror film, and I can't recommend it enough. If I ever made a vampire film set in Berlin, I would totally film large parts of it at the Zionkirche. Check it out!
“Whats left is Fxhain?” “The Amazon building.”
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