State of Berlin buys around 4,500 apartments from Vonovia

The lettering of the housing company "Vonovia" on the company headquarters in Bochum.

The state of Berlin is buying around 4,500 apartments from Vonovia SE. They are located in the district of Lichtenberg and will be taken over by the state-owned housing company Howoge together with the associated land, as announced by Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) on Wednesday.

Together with Berlinovo, another state-owned housing company, Howoge is also acquiring 6.9 hectares of potential building land in Buch and Lichtenberg from the real estate group. The entire deal costs around 700 million euros. It is being financed by the two municipal companies from their own funds and borrowed capital.

State of Berlin relies on new construction and purchase

For some time now, Berlin has been pursuing the goal of expanding its municipal housing stock not only through new construction, but also through acquisitions. In this way, the Senate hopes to have more influence on the tight housing market and slow down the rise in rents. A good fifth of the approximately 1.7 million rental apartments in the capital are currently in municipal hands.