Price Ceilings

Berlin's reputation as the cheap creative capital of Europe was built on rent. Tenants who moved into Croatsburg or Friedrich's Hine in the 1990s paid 200 euros a month and held those leases for 30 years. By 2019, the city government decided to write that culture into law. In February 2020, Berlin's meet and decal came into effect. The law froze rents at June 2019 levels for one and a half million apartments. Some landlords had to actually lower the rent of existing tenants. Anything above the cap was illegal. The intent was beautiful. The mechanics were brutal. Within months, the supply side moved hard. Listings of new rental apartments on Berlin's largest property portals dropped by roughly 30%. Landlords pulled units off the market or converted them to short-term letts.