Let me get this straight: the population of Berlin has been stagnant since 1950, wages aren’t rising, but the reason real estate prices are rising is because of demand from renters?

Sorry folks, the correct answer is: it’s a real estate bubble. And deregulation is not going to help with that.

We all lived through 2008, didn’t we? We’ve seen this before. It shouldn’t be a big mystery. Speculation drives real estate prices, real estate prices drive rents. Government intervention is necessary to break the cycle.