Rafael Laguna, CEO, Your Home Berlin | 22 September 2026
A factual summary of the result and the published housing proposals. We don’t take political sides.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
On 20 September 2026, Berlin elected a new Abgeordnetenhaus. The result reshaped the city’s political map. For the great majority of private property owners in Berlin, nothing changes today. What changes is the direction of the conversation. It is worth knowing exactly what sits on the table, and what does not.
What did the election actually change?
Die Linke came first with 25.7 percent. The CDU followed on 18.8, the AfD on 16.3, the Greens on 14.3 and the SPD on 12.1. It is the party’s best result ever in the capital. The outgoing coalition of CDU and SPD has lost its majority, and the most discussed option now is a three party coalition of Die Linke, the Greens and the SPD.
As of today, no government has been formed. Die Linke will decide at a party conference this week whether to open exploratory talks. Coalition negotiations in Germany usually take weeks, sometimes months.
Positions on housing still differ. Elif Eralp has said that socialisation of large housing portfolios must be part of any government she leads, while also acknowledging that compromises will be needed. The SPD has historically opposed socialisation, although its leader Steffen Krach has said his party is open to factual talks on the subject.
The coalition agreement will decide which proposals survive. The election result alone decides nothing.
Does this affect private landlords in Berlin?
Here precision matters. The word “expropriation” travels faster than the detail behind it.
The proposal targets a small number of large companies, each holding more than 3,000 apartments in Berlin. It does not reach individual owners, family portfolios, or small and medium sized holdings. Those owners make up the overwhelming majority of Berlin’s rental market, and most of the people we work with.
The legal position also sits further from implementation than the headlines suggest. The 2021 referendum, which passed with around 59 percent of valid votes, carried no legal force.
In March 2026, the outgoing CDU and SPD coalition passed the Vergesellschaftungsrahmengesetz. The law requires a concrete purpose serving the common good, proportionality and fair compensation. It socialises nothing by itself and only enters into force at the end of March 2028. Housing would need a separate application law on top. The whole construction rests on Article 15 of the Basic Law, which has never been used.
Berlin is not the only player here. The federal coalition agreed in July to pass a federal law preventing states from socialising private rental housing, and Chancellor Friedrich Merz confirmed that plan after the Berlin result. Lawyers dispute whether such a law would hold, and the question would most likely end up before the Federal Constitutional Court.
The economic effects are also contested. Critics, including the CDU, argue that socialisation would reduce new construction and push rents up. Supporters see it as a tool against speculation. The cost of compensation remains one of the most debated questions.
What are we watching
For owners of a single apartment, expropriation is not the live question. Rent regulation is.
Four things deserve attention. How strictly districts approve conversions and modernisations inside Milieuschutz zones. How hard the city enforces the Zweckentfremdungsverbot, the ban on misusing residential space. How a new Senate treats furnished and short term lettings, which is especially relevant for owners in Milieuschutz areas. And how actively it pursues rents above the Mietspiegel.
A Senate can pull all four levers quickly, without a constitutional fight. They touch ordinary landlords far more than any headline about the large housing companies.
The coalition agreement is the document to read. Until then, every measure above remains a proposal. We call proposals proposals, and we will update this article once a government agreement is published
Do you own property in Berlin and want to know what this means for your situation?
Your Home Berlin manages properties for international owners across the city. We follow these rules for a living, whether the question is letting, compliance or a sale. Get in touch and we will walk you through it.
We follow Berlin’s housing rules so you do not have to.
Get the newsletter:
Editorial note: Your Home Berlin does not support or oppose any party or political position. This article is a factual summary of the election result and of the housing proposals published by the parties themselves, in their campaign programmes and public statements, together with what those proposals could mean in practice for property owners. Where an outcome is genuinely open, we say so rather than guess. General information only, current as of 22 September 2026. Not legal or tax advice.
