Lots of points missing in this article, clearly written by someone looking from the outside and not someone actually familiar with the rental market in Berlin.
Even without these specific rent controls, most rental contracts have either "staffelmiete" or "indexmiete", that is, fixed points at which the rent will increase or an index against which rent is pegged. There are very strong laws supporting renters.
I live in a somewhat newer apartment, so it's not subject to the discussed changes. My rent increases were agreed with the landlord when we moved in, they are fixed in my contract, and after the built in increases are done, the rent won't go up anymore.
The issue with housing and prices is Berlin is not the same as other places in the world. For years Berlin was an economic wasteland. Just now it's become desirable to live here, and there are jobs and an economy to support it. The rent in Berlin is, despite increasing 5-10% per year every year for the past decade, still less than that in Munich or Hamburg. This isn't a case of a speculative bubble or outlier system, just a historically depressed economy returning to the mean, and fast.
Yes, it's unfortunate, that people cannot afford to live in Berlin as they did in 1996. But Berlin is not the city it was in 1996. To alleviate this price pressure, more housing needs to be built than demanded, and that has not been the case for a long time now; place is limited.
Even without these specific rent controls, most rental contracts have either "staffelmiete" or "indexmiete", that is, fixed points at which the rent will increase or an index against which rent is pegged. There are very strong laws supporting renters.
I live in a somewhat newer apartment, so it's not subject to the discussed changes. My rent increases were agreed with the landlord when we moved in, they are fixed in my contract, and after the built in increases are done, the rent won't go up anymore.
The issue with housing and prices is Berlin is not the same as other places in the world. For years Berlin was an economic wasteland. Just now it's become desirable to live here, and there are jobs and an economy to support it. The rent in Berlin is, despite increasing 5-10% per year every year for the past decade, still less than that in Munich or Hamburg. This isn't a case of a speculative bubble or outlier system, just a historically depressed economy returning to the mean, and fast.
Yes, it's unfortunate, that people cannot afford to live in Berlin as they did in 1996. But Berlin is not the city it was in 1996. To alleviate this price pressure, more housing needs to be built than demanded, and that has not been the case for a long time now; place is limited.