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In 2004 the state of Berlin sold 65000 flats for 405 million euro. Now they are buying 14700 flats for 2.46 billion euro. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSW_Immo

In 2004 the state of Berlin sold 65000 flats for 405 million euro. Now they are buying 14700 flats for 2.46 billion euro. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSW_Immobilien https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSW_Immobilien . Back then they had the same coalition in power as today, the taxpayers money at work.

bildung 5y ago
The important context here: The conservatives who were at the helm pre 2004 created a big banking crisis that brought Berlin on the brink of insolvency, which forced the state to sell a bunch of public property: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_Bankenskandal https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_Bankenskandal (German only, sorry)
bdowling 5y ago
> In 2004 the state of Berlin sold 65000 flats for 405 million euro. So, the average price per flat was € 6,230. That sounds impossibly low. Or were these distressed, dilapidated properties?
- AdrianB1 5y ago
  In the same period or a bit earlier, hundreds of thousands of apartments in Bucharest and other major cities were sold at preferential prices (read: heavily discounted) to the renters. It was a populist measure, people bought apartments and sold them a year later at 4-5 times the purchase price. Also the old Communist era small apartments were cheaply build and without much value. 6000 euro looks low, but I bought in 1998 from the open market an apartment for $13,000 (the transaction was in USD). These days, that apartment is around 3-4 times more expensive (I don't have it for many years), but it is still small and poorly insulated. "small" means less than 50 square meters, one living room and one bedroom.
- pantalaimon 5y ago
  Back then the general sentiment was that Berlin was going to shrink. A lot of high-rises were razed in the eastern districts, others were converted into low-rise buildings as part of the "Stadtumbau Ost" program.

bildung 5y ago

The important context here: The conservatives who were at the helm pre 2004 created a big banking crisis that brought Berlin on the brink of insolvency, which forced the state to sell a bunch of public property: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_Bankenskandal https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_Bankenskandal (German only, sorry)

bdowling 5y ago

> In 2004 the state of Berlin sold 65000 flats for 405 million euro. So, the average price per flat was € 6,230. That sounds impossibly low. Or were these distressed, dilapidated properties?

AdrianB1 5y ago
In the same period or a bit earlier, hundreds of thousands of apartments in Bucharest and other major cities were sold at preferential prices (read: heavily discounted) to the renters. It was a populist measure, people bought apartments and sold them a year later at 4-5 times the purchase price. Also the old Communist era small apartments were cheaply build and without much value. 6000 euro looks low, but I bought in 1998 from the open market an apartment for $13,000 (the transaction was in USD). These days, that apartment is around 3-4 times more expensive (I don't have it for many years), but it is still small and poorly insulated. "small" means less than 50 square meters, one living room and one bedroom.
pantalaimon 5y ago
Back then the general sentiment was that Berlin was going to shrink. A lot of high-rises were razed in the eastern districts, others were converted into low-rise buildings as part of the "Stadtumbau Ost" program.