There is huge construction going on in Frankfurt. But that hasn’t improved the situation for people looking for affordable housing. A city report suggests so.

A huge number of new apartments have been built in Frankfurt in recent years at a rapid pace. In 2015 there were 375,000 apartments in the city area, five years later there were almost 407,500. However, this new construction boom has not contributed to an improvement in the situation of people who have been waiting for reasonably affordable housing. Because cheap rental apartments and publicly subsidized living space are hardly ever created. This is shown by figures from the municipal housing market report 2019/2020, which has now been presented with a huge delay.

Clearly, households with low and middle incomes hardly manage to find an apartment on the Frankfurt market with a reasonable rent. According to figures from the housing market report, the median asking rents in 2021 were EUR 14 per square meter.

Many more people move from Frankfurt to the surrounding area than from the region to the city

One consequence: for a long time now, more people have been leaving Frankfurt for the surrounding area than moving out of the region. In 2020, the net loss of 5421 people is higher than ever, which may also have been due to the pandemic. The main reason for moving away is the housing situation. The fact that Frankfurt is still growing is due to the influx from other German regions and abroad.

For all the people whose income is not enough to support themselves on the housing market, there is still far too little social housing. At the end of 2020, the Housing Office only had occupancy rights for 30,477 apartments. At the same time, however, 8,973 households with 22,832 people were on the waiting list. The placement rate is miserable. In 2020, the city was only able to help 1325 households.

Head of planning Josef sees signs of improvement – the left sees it very differently

The problem: Although the city has committed investors for years to building 30 percent subsidized apartments in new building areas and buying occupancy rights for a lot of money, more apartments are still falling out of the social bond than are being added.

Head of Planning Mike Josef tries to show a positive development in his greeting. Even if the still tense housing market in Frankfurt still requires a lot of work, some indicators indicate that the goal of “financing all residents of the city with available and affordable housing” is achievable. The Social Democrat points to high completion and approval figures and a slight decline in asking rents in 2021.

For the left in Römer, on the other hand, the report shows that the housing crisis has worsened. She even sees the fact that the figures are coming out so late as an attempt to “sweep the problem under the carpet”. She calls for more social housing, rent reductions in the city Housing Association AB and a remunicipalisation of Vonovia apartments.