Because the rent cap of five percent of invested capital, which has been in effect in Luxembourg since 2007, presumably puts owners of older apartments at a disadvantage compared to those who have recently built or purchased their rental property, DP Housing Minister Claude Meisch and the “Observatoire de l’habitat” under his authority have been “feverishly” looking for solutions for several months to enable all landlords to achieve a high return for an unlimited period of time without rents rising even further beyond measure. In the last five years, rents (“loyers annoncés”) have become 25 percent more expensive, but have increased much less rapidly than in the period between 2015 and 2020, when the increase was around 70 percent.
The “Observatoire” had already published three reports in April and interviewed experts – landlords, tenants, brokers and researchers; found that the majority of multiple owners are Luxembourg men over 55 years of age living in Luxembourg who have been landlords for more than ten years, although for three quarters of them their rental income represents less than a quarter of their total income (the “Observatoire” does not reveal their socio-professional status, whether they are entrepreneurs, freelancers, managers, civil servants); Recall that “les individus with portfolios plus importants” often delegate the management of their rental properties to companies specializing in it or set up commercial real estate companies themselves, which are difficult to record statistically, also because they do not take part in the “Observatoire” surveys.
