Budget agreement secures affordable housing in cities

Government: Cities not just for the wealthy

In a bid to tackle the rising trend of Denmark's cities being reserved for the wealthy only, the 2015 budget agreement released by the government today will change the social housing law so that thousands of new homes in the nation's cities will be affordable for the average citizen.

The law change means that in future the council can demand that every fourth home in new apartment buildings being built on waterfronts or in new developing city districts in the largest cities is public housing.

”It's historic that the councils now will be able to decide that the social housing companies in the large cities must have the opportunity to build new housing that is affordable for the average wage recipient,” Kirsten Brosbøl, the environmental minister, said in a press release.

”With this agreement, the government ensures that our cities are not just reserved for the richest Danes.”

READ MORE: Copenhagen becoming a city for the wealthy

Copenhagen rising
The agreement is expected to generate about 6,600 new public housing homes in Copenhagen alone, which is looking like a good idea considering the most recent price figures in the capital, according to the online real estate portal Boligsiden.dk

Apartment prices in Copenhagen haven't been as high as they are currently since October 2006, just before the housing bubble burst, when the average price per square metre in Copenhagen Council was 33,700 kroner.

In September, 2014, the average square metre prices in Copenhagen was 30,000 kroner and in Frederiksberg it was 33,000 kroner.

READ MORE: Experts warn of housing bubble

Demand is not a bubble
Apartments prices have risen in all of Copenhagen's districts over the past year – particularly in Nørrebro, Frederiksberg and downtown Copenhagen. But it's not another bubble, according to Birgit Daetz, the head of communication at Boligsiden.dk.

”Since 2006, the tendency of people moving from rural to urban areas has heavily intensified, and that means that housing demand in Copenhagen has increased significantly,” Daetz said in a press release.

”So the prices may stagnate at some point or even drop a bit, but at the moment there is nothing that indicates this is an unsustainable pricing development.”

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