Lower Saxony asking rents jump 24.7% in five years as social housing stock shrinks by 40,000

The numbers

Asking rents in Lower Saxony climbed 24.7 percent between 2020 and 2025, reaching an average of 9.69 euros per square metre last year, a record high. The figures come from the federal government's answer to a parliamentary inquiry by the Left party faction, published on 24 July 2026. Over the same period, the stock of social housing in the state shrank by almost 40,000 units since 2015, despite thousands of newly built homes. The figures point to a widening gap between market-rate construction and the loss of rent-controlled units.

Household strain

More than one in three households now spends at least 30 percent of net income on cold rent, according to the data. Around 253,000 households devote 40 percent or more of their income to rent, a threshold widely considered a severe financial burden. The Left party described the situation as a housing crisis that is worsening dramatically.

Housing is becoming a financial stress test for more and more people. This is the result of a failed rent policy that lets the market run its course instead of consistently securing affordable housing.

Political demands

Jorrit Bosch, a Bundestag member for Die Linke, said the existing rent brake is ineffective and too easily circumvented. He called for a binding rent cap to halt further increases. Bosch argued that the focus on new construction alone misses the point, because rents continue to rise even as thousands of units are added. He stressed that what is needed are permanently affordable homes in municipal or cooperative ownership, not profit-driven development.

What matters is not just that housing is built, but for whom it is built. What is missing are permanently affordable homes in municipal or cooperative hands instead of profit-oriented construction.

Regional hotspots

The most expensive areas in 2025 were Landkreis Harburg at 12.31 euros per square metre (up 28.1 percent in five years), the city of Oldenburg at 11.68 euros (up 31.8 percent), and Landkreis Lüneburg at 11.53 euros (up 28.5 percent). The sharpest increases, however, occurred elsewhere. Landkreis Cuxhaven saw rents jump 45.1 percent to 9.75 euros per square metre, Landkreis Emsland rose 43.5 percent to 9.79 euros, and Grafschaft Bentheim climbed 41.8 percent to 10.51 euros. These rural and small-town districts outpaced the urban centres, suggesting that the affordability crisis is spreading beyond the major cities.