It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Berliner in need of a long-term rental contract must be in want of a miracle. Any time a suitable apartment pops up on Immoscout, there are hundreds of other hopeful – if not desperate – applicants vying for the same place. As the city gets more and more crowded, space itself feels in short supply. But the real irony is this: Berlin has an abundance of empty buildings. To be exact, there are over two million square
metres available, room enough for tens of thousands of people to live. The problem is that it’s currently in the form of not-in-use offices. So why in the name of a widely agreed-upon housing crisis aren’t we turning them into places to live? Offices for a WFH Culture Let’s start, as usual, with good-old German bureaucracy. Up to 15 years: that’s how long it typically takes to build a building in Berlin. Planning permission alone demands an average of nine years, according to the BFW,
the association of private real estate developers. Much of the office space entering the market today was conceived of before Covid-19 changed the way workplaces operate. Before the pandemic, Berlin couldn’t build offices fast enough. The tech sector was booming, startups were scaling and vacancy rates were stable at around 1.5%. Then Covid came and went, but remote working stayed put. Today, over 40% of Berlin’s knowledge workers are remote at least three days a week. Companies still need office space, sure, but far less
of it. Take up in 2025 was the lowest since 2009 and had decreased by 14.5% compared to 2024. The city saw only seven deals for leases over 5,000 square metres in 2025. But even as demand falls, the supply pipeline keeps delivering. This year alone, an estimated 600,000 square metres are being completed, according to Colliers: 600,000 square metres designed for a work culture that no longer exists. The Conversion Conundrum With new office buildings entering the market, companies can choose between shiny and
high-spec in prime locations or old and dull in less desirable locations. Guess which one they go for. They no longer want more space; they want better space. Prime rents have risen to €48.90 per square metre per month, leaving less central locations increasingly stranded. Now, the obvious answer is to convert these older spaces into housing, but financial reality intervenes. Developers finance office buildings against commercial rental yields, which are significantly higher (€25.80 per square metre on average) than residential ones. Permanently converting to
housing permanently devalues the asset, potentially leaving owners unable to service their loans. For many landlords, the math simply doesn’t add up. There are over two million square metres available, room enough for tens of thousands of people to live. That’s why most of the conversion activity in Berlin hasn’t gone towards permanent housing but to commercial projects that maintain higher yields. Limehome is a perfect example of turning former office space into short-term rental units. They’re mostly used for shorter visits but can also
be booked for an extended period at a higher cost per square metre than a traditional long-term rental. A&O Hostels recently acquired 31,000 square metres of vacant office building near Checkpoint Charlie from Allianz for €40 million to convert into what will become Europe’s largest hostel, with approximately 2,500 beds and set to open in early 2027. However, while commercially savvy, serviced apartments and hostel beds won’t solve Berlin’s housing crisis. Limits of Creative Solutions Then there’s CommUnits, an initiative born out of Transiträume e.V.,
Berlin’s most established interim use network. They’re inspired by the city’s free-spirited 1990s, when creatives took over empty buildings and made something extraordinary out of what nobody else wanted. CommUnits installs modular micro-apartments inside vacant offices, creating a miniature neighbourhood with communal spaces, a community app and shared facilities. Pilot projects are underway at the Sarotti-Höfe in Kreuzberg, on Joachimsthaler Straße and at the Treptown complex in Treptow. The model is designed for newcomers, creatives and short-term residents: “Those more interested in affairs than in
marriage,” Sascha Wolf, co-founder of Transitträume, puts it. The concept is clever, not least because it sidesteps the loan trap. Building owners let the space at a reduced rate for about three years without permanently altering the property. This leaves the door open for future commercial use. However, there’s a legal wrinkle that reveals just how far Berlin’s regulatory framework impedes the city’s needs. Under current law, CommUnits can’t simply install housing in vacant offices. Instead, the units must be classified as hostel accommodation –
a workaround that caps residents at a six-month stay. “The result is the same,” says Moritz Tonn, deputy chair and managing director of Transiträume e.V. “But naming them hostels is what the law allows.” Residents who wish to stay longer can, in principle, move between CommUnits, but Berlin’s bureaucratic restrictions remain a massive obstacle. A shorter stint in a modular pod might be perfect for newcomers and those in flux, but it’s not a long-term home. It’s a stopover. It’s creative and community-minded. One must
admit it’s very Berlin indeed. But it is, fundamentally, only a temporary solution. Where’s the Senate? The Senate is noticeably absent from this picture. Christian Gaebler, senator for urban development, building and housing, took over as chair of the national Bauministerkonferenz (Conference of Ministers of Construction) in January 2026. Among his stated priorities was removing regulatory barriers to the conversion and mixed use of commercial buildings. On paper, it’s exactly this agenda that’s necessary. In practice, industry figures say they’ve seen little concrete action from
the Senate to facilitate large-scale, office-to-residential conversion in Berlin. There’s the sense that Gaebler is waiting until Berlin’s upcoming elections before committing to ambitious new projects. The Senate’s press office didn’t respond to a request for comment. I look at Graz and think it’s possible. Why is it not possible in Berlin? To be fair, the Senate is not a free agent. Officials who engage with the interim use sector acknowledge the logic of flexibility, but are constrained by a legal framework that offers none.
Changing a building’s use from office to residential is technically possible. But it’s also irreversible. The contrast with other cities is instructive. Moritz Tonn of Transiträume e.V. is clear-eyed about the limits of what the private sector can deliver. With building costs soaring, markets in flux and planning permission taking up to nine years, Berlin developers aren’t in a position to build housing at a price ordinary Berliners can afford. The long-term solution, he argues, has to come from the city itself. “Take a look
at Graz,” he says. Graz, Austria, surrounded by a right-wing regional government yet led by the Communist Party, has in recent years delivered a significant volume of affordable housing simply by deciding it was a priority and acting on it. “I look at Graz and think it’s possible. Why is it not possible in Berlin?” Dust, Not Rent The question is not whether Berlin lacks space for housing. It has plenty of space. There’s simply not enough political ambition to use it. The frustration from
Berliners is palpable. There’s a huge housing demand, two million square metres of empty space and developers willing to do the heavy lifting. But there’s also no supportive, regulatory framework that would make permanent conversions financially viable – and no political will to introduce one anytime soon. The oversupply of offices might eventually stabilise once the pipeline catches up to the work culture. But until it does, Berlin’s housing crisis worsens and two million square metres stand around collecting dust – not rent. If you
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Berlin housing crisis, empty office buildings, office-to-residential conversion, CommUnits, Transiträume e.V., Limehome, A&O Hostels, Christian Gaebler, Bauministerkonferenz, Graz affordable housing