It is a laudable thing for the IW Economic Institute in Cologne to undertake a comparison of the elections manifestos of Christian Democrats, Liberals, Social Democrats and Greens in regard to real estate issues on behalf of the ZIA German Property Federation.

I could not agree more with the overall tenor of the survey. The demands raised by Social Democrats and Greens imply a hefty burden for landlords as well as for the real estate industry in general, and will exacerbate housing shortage issues rather than alleviating them.

In truth, though, the portents are even worse than the survey suggests. It seems that the latest statements by Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leading Christian Democrats on the subject of "rent control" were not added to the survey until the very last moment. The survey summarises the core statement by the Christian Democrats as follows: "Open for rent pricing of new leases" (which probably refers to the rent control issue).

The next coalition government, no matter what the constellation (excepting the now unlikely continuation of the incumbent coalition of Christian Democrats and Liberals), will be sure to limit rent increase options in some way, including for new leases.