Berlin’s state-owned real estate has an eight-billion-euro renovation backlog

During a press briefing in May, Birgit Möhring, Managing Director of Berlin Property Management GmbH (BIM), provided an extensive update on Berlin’s state-owned property portfolio. She estimated that the backlog of essential renovations amounts to around 8.3 billion euros. Möhring also revealed that essential energy efficiency upgrades alone account for 2.7 billion of this backlog. Möhring emphasised that the BMI’s current budget is not large enough to address even the smaller backlog of energy efficiency renovations required to achieve climate neutrality by 2045. According to a special audit conducted by the State Audit Office in 2024 and cited by Möhring, the current construction budget of approximately 305 million euros in 2025 would need to be increased by 154 million euros per year to reach the German government’s climate neutrality targets. Failure to bridge this funding gap could result in drastic measures, including the closure of some facilities, the BIM’s managing director warned. At the same time, Möhring also noted that there is a clear understanding of which buildings are in most urgent need of renovation and should be prioritised. As current budget constraints do not allow for rent increases for state-owned properties used by Berlin’s municipal agencies, Möhring intends to raise revenue by taking out loans.