# Berlin Parties Propose €16 Billion Cap on Private Housing Transfers

By Riza Dagoc

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/regulation/35240
Published: 2026-10-20T03:00:38.000Z
Updated: 2026-10-20T03:00:38.000Z
Section: Regulation

> Adler Group had 17,455 Berlin units at year-end 2025, but that count includes commercial space and does not establish whether it meets the proposal’s apartment threshold.

Three Berlin parties have proposed moving large private housing portfolios into public ownership under a plan that caps total compensation at €16 billion, drawing attention to Adler Group’s Berlin holdings.

An Oct. 17 exploratory paper by Die Linke, the Greens and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) targets private companies with at least 10,000 apartments in Berlin. Each covered company could retain 10,000 apartments. The proposal is a starting point for coalition talks, not enacted law.

The €16 billion compensation cap depends on Berlin’s ability to bear the cost, including if financing conditions worsen. The parties aim to develop a financing framework in 2027 and submit a bill to Berlin’s parliament in mid-2028. Transfers would take effect one year after the law is promulgated.

Adler Group’s Berlin portfolio totaled 17,455 units at the end of 2025. That count includes ground-floor commercial units, while the proposed threshold applies to apartments. Its reported unit count exceeds 10,000, but the figure alone does not establish whether Adler meets the apartment threshold.

Adler’s Berlin residential investment properties had a fair value of €3.44 billion as of Dec. 31, 2025. The plan exempts cooperatives, public-benefit organizations and apartments built after Jan. 1, 2021. It sets no citywide total for apartments that would transfer.

The proposal draws on Article 15 of Germany’s Basic Law, which permits transfers of property into public ownership through legislation that sets compensation. Berlin would have to pass such a law before any housing could change hands under the plan.

Berlin voters considered a broader threshold in a 2021 referendum. Of those who participated, 57.6% supported a request to draft legislation covering private housing companies with more than 3,000 apartments. The vote itself transferred no properties.

The new proposal sets the company threshold at 10,000 apartments and would let each covered landlord keep that many. Its exemptions would also affect which properties could be included if the plan becomes law.

On Oct. 19, 43 of 45 Berlin Green delegates voted to begin coalition negotiations. Die Linke’s party congress still must decide whether to open talks.