Overview
- The Institut Wohnen und Umwelt (IWU), reporting for the Deutscher Mieterbund, estimates about 6.6 million of roughly 20 million renter households are overburdened with housing costs using a more than 30 percent-of-net-income threshold.
- The IWU breakdown shows about 3.2 million renter households spend over 40 percent of net income on rent and heating while a further 3.4 million spend 30–40 percent.
- Official statistics from Destatis use a stricter 40 percent threshold and broader population measures and therefore report a much smaller share of people as overburdened, which has split public debate over how to measure the problem.
- The burden falls heaviest on low-income renters, with 42 percent of renter households in the bottom third of income and the bottom 10 percent facing an average housing cost share near 60 percent.
- The Deutscher Mieterbund called the numbers alarmingly high and demanded immediate action including tighter and nationwide rent caps, stronger enforcement and fines, and a rapid increase in social and public housing to ease shortages that also risk slowing economic mobility.