The Vonovia housing group has announced a significant increase in rents. CEO Rolf Buch justified the step with the above-average inflation.

Germany’s largest real estate company, Vonovia, believes that significant rent increases are inevitable if inflation continues to be above average. “If inflation is permanently four percent, rents will have to increase accordingly every year in the future,” said Vonovia CEO Rolf Buch to the “Handelsblatt” (Wednesday). Otherwise, many landlords would get into serious trouble. “We can’t pretend that inflation will bypass rents. That won’t work.”

Vonovia rents out more than 500,000 apartments

Vonovia is Germany’s largest housing group. The listed company rents out more than 565,000 apartments in Germany, Sweden and Austria, including more than 505,000 in this country alone. In Germany, almost half of the population lived in rented accommodation in 2020.

At the presentation of the annual balance sheet for 2021, the Vonovia Management Board reported in mid-March that the average rent had increased to EUR 7.33 per square meter – that was 2.4 percent more than a year earlier. According to the information, modernized apartments in particular contributed to the increase. The companies can partially pass on the costs for energy-related renovations such as thermal insulation and the replacement of old heating systems and windows to the rent.