CSU demands urgent federal law to ban expropriation of private residential property

Demonstration in Berlin against high rents, rent gouging, displacement, and for the expropriation and municipalization of large housing stocks. Source: picture alliance/SZ Photo/Jürgen Heinrich

The CSU is demanding a swift federal law to prohibit the expropriation of real estate, following the Left Party's electoral victory in Berlin and warnings from the real estate industry. Chancellor Friedrich Merz now intends to advance these plans.

CSU: "Horrendous Costs" from Expropriation Plans

"The Left Party's expropriation plans are driving the housing market into ruin and come with horrendous costs," said CSU General Secretary Martin Huber to the Funke Media Group.

"This socialist pipe dream does not create a single new apartment and is fatal for necessary private investment. We must now implement the coalition committee's decision to ban expropriations of real estate by federal law as quickly as possible."

Coalition Agreement and Stalled Progress

In July, the leadership of the Union and SPD coalition at the federal level agreed to regulate through federal law that the nationalization of private rental housing stocks via state-level socialization laws would no longer be possible. Business associations have criticized that little has happened since then.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz now wants to push the legislative plans forward. "Above all, it is about sending a clear message to international investors: There will be no expropriations of private property in Germany," said the CDU leader on Monday after party committee meetings. He stated that a decision would be reached "relatively quickly."

Industry Warnings: "Investments Are Now Going to Warsaw"

The construction and real estate industry warned of the consequences of the expropriation debate. "Now investments are going to Warsaw or other major European cities, not to Berlin," said Dirk Salewski, President of the BFW real estate association, to the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND). He noted that the expropriation plans and the election campaign discussion about the socialization of housing had already "led to an unprecedented wait-and-see attitude."

Tim-Oliver Müller, Managing Director of the HDB Construction Industry Association, criticized: "Socialization is not free, as many believe; rather, the apartments are purchased." This costs money that could be used for new construction. Socialization would not create a single new apartment, Müller said. He added that it seemed as if "individual parties are luring voters with supposedly simple solutions that, in reality, cannot achieve what they promise."

Left Party Insists on Socialization

Left Party politician Elif Eralp, following her electoral victory in Berlin, intends to make the expropriation of housing corporations with compensation a central focus of possible coalition negotiations. "For me, it is clear that socialization must take place in a government, because there was a clear vote, a democratic mandate to all parties on this," said Eralp, referring to a successful referendum in 2021.

dpa/gold