V*1
BERLIN.
29
the unearned increment tax is in force in several of the suburbs of Berlin, as
well as in the adjacent rural circuit of Teltow. All that is necessary to its
introduction in a Prussian town is a resolution of the local government body
ratified by the provincial governor.
Bents are continually rising in Berlin, for great as is the amount of building
the supply has never exceeded the demand to such an extent as to transfer the
advantage of competition from the side of the landlords to that of the tenants.
The percentage of empty dwellings in 1906 was 2‘4 against 2T in 1905, and
1*82 in 1904, but small as this percentage is—the percentage accepted by
German housing statisticians as “ normal ” is from two to three—it must be
remembered that a considerable deduction must be made on account of buildings
in bad repair or for other reasons unattractive to householders.
Herr Heinrich Freese, of Berlin, already referred to, who classified
the rents of his workpeople in 1892 and again in 1903, came to the
conclusion that dwellings of a single room cost 53'34 per cent, more in
the latter year, dwellings of a room and kitchen 8*84 per cent, more, and
dwellings of two rooms and kitchen 17T7 per cent. more. Investigating
further the relation between rent and income, Herr Freese found that, comparing
the aggregate amount of rent paid by his married workpeople with the aggregate
amount of their income, rent absorbed the following proportions, in 1892 and
1903 :—
Number of Rooms in Dwelling.
Percentage of Income spent on Rent.
1892.
One room ...
One room and kitchen
Two rooms and kitchen ...
Three or four rooms and kitchen...
9-56
17-25
15-09
14-20
1903.
17-03
17-57
17-64
17-02
He came to the conclusion that while on an average his workmen had to
devote the earnings of 43^ days (out of a total of 300) to the payment of rent
in 1892 the earnings of 49f days w-ent in that way in 1903.
The causes of. this rise in rents are not far to seek. The higher cost of
labour in the building trades and the higher cost of material, whether stone, brick,
iron, or timber, are to a large extent responsible, but an equal or more important
factor is the greatly increased value of building land. It is not improbable that
the latter factor will operate even more strongly in the future, in spite of the
possibility of temporary checks, for the incorporated area of Berlin proper is
virtually built up already and expansion is now only practicable in the suburbs.
It mio-ht be supposed that the growth of the suburbs would relieve the
congestion and with it the pressure of rents which prevail in Berlin, yet such a
supposition is negatived by the fact that Berlin’s population has been reinforced
during the past ten years (1895 to 1905) not only by an excess of
births over deaths numbering 165,952, but by an excess of immigrants over
removals to the extent of 196,892. The consequence is that the population per
hectare (2J acres) on a total municipal area of 6,349 hectares was in 1905 321,
where it was 264 in 1895, while in the most densely populated of the suburbs,
viz., at Bixdorf and Schöneberg, it is only 149 per hectare.
There are a multitude of houseowners who own a single block and occupy
one of the dwellings therein, and thus keep themselves in close touch with their
tenants. The house regulations may be enforced more rigidly than when the
landlord lives at a distance, but order and cleanliness gain by the fact that
“ Der Wirt ” (or his wife) manages the whole property from his residence in
" Front house, parterre, right.” Where the landlord does not live on the
premises an agent (“Verwalter”) commonly accepts and discharges tenants and
receives rents in his place. Almost invariably the agent follows some other
occupation, and his commission often takes the form of a reduction in rent, or he
may have a free dwelling if the property to be managed be extensive.
