WWF study: Potential for apartment swapping in existing housing stock

The WWF-commissioned study “Umweltschutzpotenzial durch Mietwohnungstausch in Deutschland” ("Environmental Protection Potential through Apartment Swapping in Germany") by Mittweida University of Applied Sciences estimates that roughly 4.2 million people—18.56 percent of all tenants—represent potential participants in an apartment swap.

Every tenth household is overcrowded, and about half of all tenants live in apartments that are too large. Apartment swapping could make up to 11.5 million square meters of living space available each year, equivalent to around 357,000 rooms. In reverse, this could save between 65,000 and 131,500 newly built apartments. According to a WWF survey, 65 percent of tenants can imagine swapping their apartments. In the existing housing stock, this would create more suitable housing—faster, more cost-efficiently, and more sustainably than new construction.

The WWF study also calculates the potential climate benefits of apartment swapping. The result: If every year ten percent of households living in homes that are too small swapped with those living too large, approximately 13.2 million tonnes of CO₂ could be saved over the buildings’ lifetime. Land consumption would decrease by up to 20 million square meters per year—equivalent to about 5.45 hectares less sealed surface per day. Apartment swapping could thus contribute more than ten percent toward the federal government’s goal of reducing daily land sealing to under 30 hectares by 2030. In total, up to 38 million tonnes of building materials could be saved annually through swaps, and the energy demand from unnecessary new construction would drop by 1.5 million megawatt-hours per year.

The study presents three scenarios with annual swap rates ranging from five to ten percent of eligible households, evaluated conservatively against actual relocation rates in Germany.

The WWF calls for “a nationwide right to apartment swapping” and urges policymakers to “create the legal framework” to remove existing barriers. Legal conditions and cost–benefit calculations for tenants and landlords are not covered in the study.

Read more and to the full study (in German)