A significant number of federally-owned properties, including residential units, remain unused at a time when affordable housing is in short supply. This revelation comes from a response by the Federal Ministry of Finance to a parliamentary inquiry from Caren Lay, a parliamentarian from the Left party, as reported by newspapers within the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland network.
Currently, the Federal Agency for Real Estate Tasks (Bima) oversees 38,431 properties. Of these, 1,129 are deemed ‘not market-active’ meaning they are not available for rental or sale. Furthermore, 3,725 of the remaining 37,302 properties are vacant – approximately one in ten.
Over the past decade, Bima has sold 12,000 properties, with 8,715 being residential units. During the same period, approximately 1,100 new residential units were added to the agency’s portfolio.
The situation has drawn criticism from Lay, who described it as “a damning indictment” given the current housing shortage. She noted a continuation of existing practices, highlighting the limited expansion of new construction and the ongoing sale of properties into private ownership despite political commitments to address the housing crisis.
Lay has advocated for a more proactive role for the federal government, urging the creation of dedicated federal capabilities for construction, maintenance and renovation of federally-owned housing, rather than relying on external contractors for individual projects.