Ludwig Burkardt, a board member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Housing Association (BBU), which unites 40% of the capital's apartments, called the housing market 'a sphere of economic rest.' Judge for yourself: in 2004, 9.8% of tenants changed apartments, in 2005 – 9.5%, and in 2006 – 8.9%. For comparison, the national average in 2006 was 9.6%, and among the leaders in the number of moves were the following states: Lower Saxony (12.7%), Bremen (11.9%), Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (11.3%). Interestingly, the number of vacant apartments belonging to BBU (with a total stock of 1.1 million apartments) decreased from 5.5% to 5.1%. Burkardt sees the reason for such conservatism among tenants in the fact that good housing has been taken, and people prefer to stay in their familiar comfortable apartments, despite the rise in rental costs.
Representatives of another housing institution – the Land Real Estate Association – also confirm Burkardt's conclusions. In this association, the figures are even more convincing: in 2005, almost every tenth rental contract was terminated, while a year later only every twentieth. It is believed that property owners no longer have such a wide range of available high-quality housing as they did a few years ago.
But there is another point of view. The chairman of the Berlin Tenants' Association, Michael Roggenbrodt, believes that it is moving that burdens the budget much more, not staying put. Renting apartments in new buildings and in thoroughly renovated houses where plastic windows have been installed is significantly more expensive than renting relatively old apartments. The increased propensity of Berliners to stay put is also confirmed by furniture moving companies. Although, according to their data, they are far from going bankrupt.
It is interesting how the number of movers is distributed across city districts. The leaders here are Wedding (10.3%), Prenzlauer Berg (10.3%), Pankow (9.7%). The fewest moves are in Mitte (7.2%), Tempelhof (7.6%), and Steglitz (7.8%). Those who change apartments within the city prefer to stay in their familiar district – out of 350,000 people who moved within Berlin, 200,000 remained loyal to their district. Due to moves, the district of Mitte lost the largest number of residents – 2,660 people. Significant outflow of residents also from Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg (–1,699), Neukölln (–1,206), and Tempelhof-Schöneberg (–930). The largest increase was recorded in Treptow-Köpenick – 2,159 people.
There are also moves caused by purely social reasons. As Rosbalt notes, about 574,000 recipients of various social benefits live in Berlin – that is 316,786 families. According to data provided by the Berlin Labor Agency, in 11 months of 2006, 374 families changed apartments. All moves are due to exceeding the area or cost norms established for benefit recipients. These norms are as follows: from 45 to 50 square meters for a single person, 60 square meters for two, 75 for three. The maximum rent is set in each district by local authorities. In 2,500 cases, moves were avoided using various possibilities: an agreement with landlords to reduce rent or subletting.