2022 is a particularly challenging year for many sections of society, and the framework conditions have not improved even for students, on the contrary: the mix of inflation with the increase in the cost of energy and living, incomes only slowly growing and Overall, college rent locations which are increasing significantly again is what presenting a big problem. This is the main finding of this year’s MLP Student Housing Report.
Across all 38 locations surveyed, rents increased by 5.9%, adjusted for quality and location, and shared rooms even increased by 9.4%. Many landlords seem to consider rising consumer prices in their rental inquiries. This is mainly supported by the fact that the increases are concentrated in the first half of 2022. Due to the continued shortage of supply in large cities and the shift in demand towards budget apartments, these increases can also be implemented.
Rents in Berlin rose particularly sharply by 18.5%, but there were also double-digit growth rates in Greifswald, Rostock, Leipzig, Heidelberg, Kiel and Bremen. In contrast, rents in Freiburg, Darmstadt and Frankfurt increased only moderately (around 3%).
Munich remains the most expensive place to study, with a model student apartment here costing €787, just ahead of Stuttgart at €786 and Berlin at €718. Dresden, Leipzig, Magdeburg and Chemnitz, on the other hand, are significantly cheaper with monthly rents of less than 400 euros. The cost of a sample flatshare ranges from 545 euros in Munich to 186 euros in Chemnitz.
Student numbers remain roughly unchanged at around 2.9 million at an overall high level, although there are large regional differences in development. As regards the real estate market and the relationship between students and housing, the development is ambiguous: on the one hand, the supply of housing in many cities is increasing compared to students, on the other, the supply of shared apartments is increasing and decreasing significantly in many places, presumably because these larger apartments are increasingly being rented out to other groups. In any case, it can be assumed that due to higher ancillary costs for housing and real wage losses, competition for small apartments will increase.
In general, the inflation rate of students is subject to a similar trend to that of the average household. However, it has been shown that, due to a lack of financial reserves, students are more burdened by current price increases, as they consume most of their income and are unable or only marginally able to reduce their savings rates. They also benefit to a small extent from temporary relief measures such as the introduction of the 9 euro ticket in June 2022 or the fuel discount. The BAföG rate hike is a step in the right direction, but it is lower than expected inflation. Furthermore, less than 20% of students receive BAföG. In this context, the continued strong increase in rental prices weighs even more heavily.
