A Berlin Neighborhood Clamps Down on Fancy Apartments

No second bathrooms, no fireplaces or under-floor heating, no new balconies and no reserved parking places.

The Berlin district of Pankow is doing everything it can to make sure its housing stock doesn’t get any fancier. This month, Green Party-led authorities in this small, attractive section of East Berlin banned any real estate improvements that might push up rents, outlawing any new holiday homes at the same time. The measures don’t come from a yen to keep the neighborhood shabby per se, as Pankow is a pretty well-scrubbed place already. They’re aimed at halting a galloping wave of luxury upgrades and conversions that are making flats too scarce and expensive for local people.