WIESBADEN (dpa-AFX) - Despite the high demand for housing, many homes in Germany are empty. According to microcensus surveys, there were around 1.9 million apartments that were not being used for various reasons as of May 15, 2022. This corresponds to a vacancy rate of 4.3%, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office. More than half of the properties (55%) had not been occupied for more than a year.

Only just over a third of the empty apartments (38 percent) were ready for occupation in the next three months. In the city states of Hamburg, Bremen and Berlin, the respective shares of these quickly available apartments were significantly higher at 52 to 61 percent. Construction measures or renovations were planned for almost one in four empty apartments (24%). Demolition was only planned for four percent of the vacant apartments. Seven percent were to be sold or used by the owners themselves. "Other reasons" were cited for one in five vacant apartments.

The data comes from the 2022 microcensus, which is based on official registers and a survey of twelve percent of the population on various topics. According to the Federal Office, around 23 million owners provided information about their properties in the building and housing census, as did around 8,000 housing companies./ceb/DP/mis