To Live and Buy in Berlin

A Facebook post making the rounds on forums in eastern Europe criticized Berlin’s social conservation laws restricting renovations apartment buyers can make

So, imagine that you’ve just found the Berlin version of a magical unicorn – an empty,1 affordable apartment for sale inside the city. Would you spend hundreds of thousands of Euros to buy it if you knew that you wouldn’t be allowed to renovate the bathroom or install a new kitchen?

If you buy in one of the 78 designated social conservation areas of the …