Germany remains a country with one of the lowest homeownership rates in Europe, according to the Pestel-Institut. In 2025, only 43.5% of the country’s private households lived in their own apartment or house. This is the lowest figure in approximately two decades.
As reported by rebuild.news, owning a home in Germany is now more of an exception than the standard model of living: the majority of households continue to rent real estate.
Germany’s official statistics confirm this characteristic of the market. According to the Federal Statistical Office Destatis and Eurostat, in 2025, 52.8% of Germany’s population lived in rented housing. This is the highest share of tenants among all European Union countries. For comparison, in France it stood at 38.6%, in Spain at 26.4%, in Poland at 12.8%, and in Slovakia at only 6.2%.
The figures from the Pestel-Institut and Destatis differ somewhat due to methodology. Pestel estimates the share of households living in owner-occupied housing, while Eurostat data cited by Destatis are calculated at the population level. The German statistical office itself also publishes a homeownership rate of 41.9% for another sample of households.
The Pestel-Institut study shows that the problem is particularly noticeable among young Germans. Almost three quarters of residents aged 25-45 live in rented housing. Researchers cite rising construction costs, mortgage interest rates and insufficient affordability of home purchases for middle-income families as the main reasons.
Since 2000, the cost of constructing apartment buildings in Germany, according to the study, has risen by approximately 160%, while consumer prices have increased significantly more slowly. Even families with two average incomes in many regions face difficulties purchasing their own homes.
At the same time, the situation is complicated by an insufficient supply of new apartments. In 2025, around 206.6 thousand housing units were completed in Germany – 18% fewer than a year earlier, and the lowest figure since 2012.
The high share of tenants has long been a characteristic of the German real estate market model. A developed long-term rental market, strong tenant protection and a historically relatively low proportion of homeowners distinguish Germany from most Central and Eastern European countries, where the overwhelming majority of the population owns its housing.
At the same time, rents under new contracts are also rising rapidly. According to the European Commission, new rental rates in Germany increased by approximately 50.8% in 2013-2024, and by 76.3% in the seven largest cities.
GERMANY, HOMEOGERMANY, HOMEOWNERSHIPWNERSHIP, HOUSING, REAL ESTATE, RENTAL
Perfect Group plans to expand its rental real estate business in Kyiv and transfer some of the apartments in its complexes to professional management by hotel operators.
As the company’s CEO, Oleksiy Koval, stated in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine on September 1, 2026, the first such project is being developed in the LA MANCHE residential complex at 46 Shchekavitska Street in Podil. Forty apartments have been allocated for this income-generating real estate project.
The operator will focus primarily on long-term rentals.
Another project is being developed as part of the Stanford residential complex at 35 Predslavinskaya Street. Here, a separate section is planned for short-term rentals, and Perfect Group is in negotiations with a major professional operator.
The developer also plans to extend some hotel services to the other residents of the residential complexes. These include concierge services, babysitting, children’s playrooms, dog-walking, and other additional services.
According to Koval, after a period of competition among developers based on price, architectural concept, and infrastructure, the next key factor in market competition will be service quality.
For comfort-class housing, the company intends to develop a similar approach through digitalization. Perfect Group is developing an app to facilitate communication between residents and the management company, process requests, and vote on additional services. Its launch is planned for before the end of 2026.
In addition to income-generating real estate projects in Kyiv, Perfect Group is building the VELMY aparthotel in Polyanytsia near Bukovel.
According to Experts.news, residential real estate and institutional leasing became one of the fastest-growing segments of the Central and Eastern European investment market in the first half of 2026.
The residential/living segment accounted for 19% of investments in commercial real estate in the CEE-6, compared to just 7% a year earlier, according to Colliers data.
Thus, its share nearly tripled in less than a year and approached the levels of the traditionally largest real estate classes—offices and retail properties.
One of the most telling examples was Poland, where the largest transaction in the history of the local PRS (institutional rental housing) market took place in the first half of the year.
Vantage Development acquired 18 completed Resi4Rent projects for 575 million euros. The portfolio includes 5,322 apartments in Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław, Gdańsk, Łódź, and Poznań.
This transaction reflects growing interest among large investors in residential properties intended not for the resale of individual apartments, but for long-term professional leasing of entire portfolios.
This model is widespread in Western Europe, but in Central and Eastern Europe, the institutional rental market is much younger and has more room for growth.
Interest in the segment is driven by urbanization, high housing purchase costs, labor mobility, and growing demand for professionally managed rental housing in the region’s largest cities.
According to Colliers, with total investment in the CEE-6 region amounting to 5.8 billion euros, the market is gradually becoming more diversified, and residential/living has already become one of the top four investment sectors.
The Polish government has approved a bill requiring the mandatory registration of apartments and houses rented to tourists for short periods. Rentals lasting up to 30 days will officially be classified as hotel services.
The bill must still be reviewed by parliament and signed by the president. Most of the new rules are set to take effect 14 days after the adopted law is published in the official gazette.
A central element of the reform will be the creation of a nationwide registry of tourist accommodations—the Centralny Wykaz Turystycznych Obiektów Noclegowych. This registry will include not only hotels and guesthouses but also private apartments offered through Airbnb, Booking.com, and other platforms.
Each property will be assigned a unique identification number. Owners will be required to include this number in all listings. Online platforms will be required to verify the presence of a registration number and provide booking information to government authorities.
For owners, this means that informal short-term rentals will become significantly riskier. Operating without registration, failing to include an identification number in a listing, or providing false information will result in administrative fines of up to 50,000 zlotys, which is approximately 11,600 euros.
Apartments for short-term rental will have to comply with health, building, and fire safety requirements. Each property must display the house rules, information on quiet hours, and contact information for the owner or manager. However, there are no plans to automatically subject residential buildings to the same fire safety requirements as full-fledged hotels.
Local authorities will be granted the right to designate zones where short-term rentals of private apartments will be restricted or completely prohibited. Such measures may be applied primarily in historic centers and the busiest tourist areas of Warsaw, Kraków, Gdańsk, Sopot, and other cities. The restrictions will not automatically apply to officially classified hotels, motels, and guesthouses.
Residents of apartment buildings, housing communities, and housing cooperatives will be granted additional powers. They will be able to request that the municipality inspect an apartment if tourists regularly disturb the peace, violate safety rules, or disrupt public order.
In the event of repeated violations, the property may be removed from the registry. In such a case, renting it to tourists will be prohibited, and the property may not be re-registered for at least one year. A property owner’s refusal to allow an inspection may also serve as grounds for removal.
Authorities explain the reform as necessary to reduce the informal sector, improve tourist safety, and ensure a level playing field for private landlords and the hotel industry. The Ministry of Sport and Tourism emphasizes that the government does not intend to completely ban affordable short-term rentals, which are used by many Polish families.
For investors, the changes mean higher costs for registering and maintaining properties. Owners will have to register each apartment, comply with safety requirements, and take into account the possibility of local restrictions. The reform may prove particularly challenging for owners of multiple apartments in popular tourist areas.
The reform is also linked to the implementation of EU Regulation 2024/1028 on the collection and exchange of data in the short-term rental market, which has been in effect in the European Union since May 20, 2026. The European rules provide for uniform registration mechanisms and the transfer of information by platforms to government agencies.
Thus, Poland is transitioning from a relatively unregulated model of daily rentals to a system similar to the regulation of the hotel industry. The final deadlines and wording will depend on the bill’s passage through parliament; however, property owners are already advised to prepare documentation for their properties and verify their compliance with health, building, and fire safety requirements.
Investment company S1 REIT supports the adoption and implementation of a draft law on the taxation of income received through digital platforms as a tool for combating the shadow economy in the real estate rental market, the company’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine.
S1 REIT CFO Vadym Pavlushyna noted that real estate investment trusts (REITs) operate with full tax transparency.
“We pay all taxes required by law on behalf of our investors. Specifically, dividend income is taxed at a rate of 9% (personal income tax) and 5% (military levy). For us, this is the standard, which we conscientiously and strictly adhere to. However, let’s be frank: most of the rental market remains in the ‘shadows.’ This creates an uneven playing field. It is quite difficult to convince people to ‘play by the rules’ when loopholes for tax evasion exist. Not least, these gaps are caused by weak regulation and a lack of oversight. “If the new bill creates conditions under which it becomes harder to avoid paying taxes, this will be a positive signal for the entire market,” he commented.
He emphasized that not only the state stands to gain from regulating the industry, but also investors and property owners who verify their income.
“They will be able to freely manage their funds and not fear audits, as they will have official confirmation of their income sources. This has become standard practice in EU countries, and Ukraine will finally not be an exception,” Pavlushyin noted.
As reported, on April 8, the Verkhovna Rada adopted in the first reading, as a basis subject to further refinement, draft law No. 15111-d on the automatic exchange of information regarding income on digital platforms, which is a structural milestone of the new financing program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that Ukraine was required to implement in March.
The initial version of the bill (No. 15111), submitted by the Cabinet of Ministers, covered income from the rental of real estate and vehicles; personal services and the sale of goods received by an individual through digital platforms in amounts up to 834 times the minimum wage (approximately UAH 7.2 million as of 2026), as well as the introduction of a tax threshold of EUR 2,000 per year. The obligations of a tax agent will fall on digital platform operators.
Draft Law No. 15111-d is a revised version of the initial government document prepared by the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax, and Customs Policy. Unlike the first draft, the final text omits a number of provisions that businesses and industry experts considered excessive.
A key change in Document No. 15111-d is the introduction of a preferential tax regime for self-employed individuals. It provides that instead of the general rate of 19.5% (18% personal income tax and 1.5% military levy) for income received through digital platforms, a rate of 5% will apply. For the duration of this special regime, such income is also exempt from the military levy. This model applies to individuals whose annual income does not exceed the limit set for the second group of single tax payers.
The revised draft document also clarified the registration procedure: users of online services will not need to register as sole proprietors—self-employed status will be granted automatically after registering on the platform and consenting to the transfer of information to the tax service.
S1 REIT is an investment company specializing in investments in professionally managed income-generating real estate. The company operates under the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) model, providing investors with the opportunity to participate in the ownership and receipt of income from profitable properties without directly managing the assets.
Currently, S1 REIT’s portfolio includes two funds—S1 VDNG and S1 Obolon. The funds’ assets consist of apartments in income-generating buildings developed by Standard One.
The number of requests to rent apartments in Kiev in December 2022 increased by 3% compared to the pre-war level, the press service of the portal of new buildings LUN told Interfax-Ukraine.
Reportedly, the team iOS-application to rent apartments in Kiev bird has prepared updated statistics on the situation of demand and prices in the capital market.
According to the study, the median rent price of one-bedroom apartment in the capital continues to fall – up to 8,5 thousand UAH, which is 10.5% lower than in November. At the end of February last year it was 13 thousand UAH per month.
The median price of rent of one-bedroom apartments at the end of December was UAH 12 thousand, which is 14.2% lower than in the previous month. In February it was UAH 21.6 thousand.
For three-room apartments median price decrease was 9%. Now you can rent such apartment for the price of 20 thousand UAH. This is much lower than before the war prices, because in February 24, 2022 such housing would cost 46.1 thousand UAH per month.
