Common good before profit: Cooperative buys house in Frankfurt

Common good before profit: Cooperative buys house in Frankfurt

A community of heirs recently deliberately sold an apartment building in Frankfurt's Ostend with seven apartments to the Frankfurter Genossenschaft Opfer-Wohnungs-Verein (BWV) instead of offering it at the highest price. The three owners set the purchase price at 1.6 million euros, but they were willing to accept a lower amount because the cooperative secured socially acceptable rents in the long term. One of the sellers even plans to continue living in the house on Röderbergweg, which underlines the community of heirs' commitment to affordable housing.

Matthias Henties, board member of the BWV, emphasized the difficulties in purchasing real estate and at the same time emphasized the ideal location of the house for their purposes. The board member also described the purchase as a contribution to the housing supply in Frankfurt. Marcus Gwechenberger, the head of the Frankfurt housing department, praised the exemplary model of real estate sales and hopes that other cooperatives and property owners will follow this example to jointly secure affordable housing in the city. He also underlined the long-term positive impact of the low rent levels in cooperatives on rents throughout the city.

In order to help owners sell properties at a fair price to buyers oriented towards the common good, the city of Frankfurt founded the Cooperative Real Estate Agency Frankfurt (Gima) about three years ago. Robin Mohr, board member of Gima, welcomed the news of this property sale and emphasized that it is important to improve the framework conditions for community-oriented housing companies in order to promote similar cases. Those interested can find further information about the Gima real estate agency on the website gima-frankfurt.de.