#486: Rents down, crime down, tourism down?
50 years ago East Germany's Palast der Republik opens its doors
Dear 20 Percent,
A shimmer of hope on the rental market: Economic think tank IfW says asking rents in Berlin were 1.8% lower in the first quarter of this year compared to Q4 in 2025.
Does this this small drop reflect the latest wave of Berlin disillusionment? It feels like on social media and in the press, Berlin hype has flipped into Berlin skepticism, even Berlin hate. Endless reports of trash, crime, homelessness, bureaucracy, high prices and bad weather could be finally leaving their mark. Tourism is down (see below). Of course, this is pure speculation. Other factors could be falling refugee numbers — or the economy is stagnant and that people just can’t afford rents. At least Harry Styles still likes it here.
So do I. Berlin’s so not over. Especially in spring when the sky is blue and all the city’s extraordinary people — you! — come outside to inhale some Berliner Luft.
More news below.
Maurice
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Crime down on transport but not all crime
BVG reports that the number of crimes reported on buses, trams and U-Bahns fell by 16% in 2025. Violent crime fell slightly but the number of sexual harassment offences rose to 314. On Monday, BVG boss Henrik Falk announced AI surveillance was now being used in 13 stations, including the infamous Kottbusser Tor. The AI cameras automatically detect unauthorised persons in off-limits areas such as tunnels and tracks. Transport minister Ute Bonde said the technology improves passengers’ subjective sense of safety. BVG wants to expand AI surveillance to platforms as well after consulting with Berlin’s data protection officer. Bonde said she opposed introducing women-only cars on the U-Bahn, an idea that has been floated by Green politicians in reaction to the increase in sexual offences.
New evidence in serial murder case
New evidence has emerged in the trial of palliative care doctor Johannes M who stands accused of murdering at least 15 people as a hospice doctor in Berlin. The suspect has been in investigative custody since August 2024. A judge authorised the police to record his phone calls to his wife. The doc allegedly injected patients with lethal doses of muscle relaxant and claims he received their verbal permission to do so. Defence lawyer Christoph Stoll said the phone calls revealed the “moral” motive behind the killings. “The telephone conversations will paint a very different picture from the one on which the prosecution based its indictment.”
More hotels?
The tourism sector isn’t growing but more hotels are being planned. Answering an enquiry by local Green politicians, the city government says 116 hotel construction projects with a total of 8,100 beds are in various stages of planning. Half of those beds would be in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg if they actually get built; alone 2,600 would be in a single hostel in a converted office building on Rudi-Dutschke-Straße. News of the new hotel plans comes as Berlin reports falling overnight stays. In 2025 hotels registered 29.4 million stays, down by 1.2 million over 2024.
Events this week, curated by The Next Day Berlin
💿 Kruder & Dorfmeister
Wednesday, 8 pm. Huxleys Neue Welt, Hasenheide 107–113, Neukölln. €60
Kruder & Dorfmeister made 🎧 The K&D Sessions in 1998 and it still sounds better than most things made since.
🖼️ Ruin and Rush: Berlin 1910–1930
Friday, Opening: 4 pm · Neue Nationalgalerie, Potsdamer Str. 50, Tiergarten. Free admission to the opening, exhibition runs till 03.01.2027 · Tue–Sun 10–18h. €14/7
Kirchner, Grosz, Hannah Höch, Otto Dix. Berlin's Weimar years in all their violence and glamour. Emancipation, poverty, queer life and the end of everything. The right exhibition at the right moment.
🪩 Else Opening x Floorplan
Friday, 4 pm - 8 am · Else, Treptow · €17-25
Robert Hood opens the Else season as Floorplan. Detroit techno royalty doing the gospel-house project with his daughter Lyric. 16 hours straight, start in daylight.
🎹 Interwoven — aus & Ken Isoda
Saturday, 6 pm (doors 5 pm) · Atemporal, Friedrichshain · €5 · 30 seats, RSVP required
The Japanese ambient canon, one hour, thirty chairs. A guided listen to Interwoven, the new album pairing Japanese producer aus with Ken Isoda. Piano, soft synths, field recordings, flute passing through. On Atemporal's hi-fi with commentary by Teshi.
🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺
🗡️Crime down, murder and sex crimes up
🇷🇺 Germany summons Russian ambassador
Factoid
East Berlin’s Palast der Republik officially opened its doors 50 years ago on April 23, 1976. The blocky, glass-clad building contructed on the site of the war-damaged, demolished city palace was an innovative combo: entertainment venue with concert hall, galleries, restaurants, clubs, gym, bowling alley — and seat of the Volkskammer, the GDR’s toothless parliament. In the 1980s even western acts like Tangerine Dream and Santana performed here. After the reunification of Berlin in 1990, campaigners pushed for its destruction, and reconstruction of the Stadtschloss, now home to the Humboldt Forum museum. In my view, obliterating such a central East Geman landmark and erasing part of that history was a big mistake. A relaunched Palast der Republik could have been much cooler and interesting than the poor replica of a Prussian baroque palace we’re stuck with now.
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🎙️The 20% Berlin Podcast on Spotify
Kruder&Dorfmeister concert at the Berliner Philharmonic last year - I rarely leave a live performance but this time I made an exception. 1998 was definitely better;)