Wirtschaftsstandort Oldenburg

In fact, the results of the survey make you ask what’s the
point of earning more in Bavaria or Baden-Württemberg
when the cost of living is so much more down there than
here in the North? If mortgages and rents are practically
unaffordable? If there’s a shortage of childcare facilities
and the fees for residential and care homes are simply
extortionate? In fact, the South continues to live primarily
from its image, which in many cases is much better than
the reality.
It’s no great surprise that Oldenburg is one of just a few
cities in Germany that are still growing. In contrast to
the national trend, its population is still on the increase.
Experts expect to see a population of 170,000 in the near
future, compared to just 140,000 at the national census
of 1987. By the way, Oldenburg also stands for migration
and for extremely successful integration of new citizens.
In 2013, around 20 percent of those living here came from
a migration background. Diversity and international flair
are seen as a huge chance for the further development
of the city on the river Hunte.
But the boom also has a number of consequences that
could cause problems. As a high-order centre in administration
terms, Oldenburg is meanwhile reaching its housing
limits. At the latest when thousands of students try
to find somewhere to live at the start of a new semester,
that's when it becomes quite clear that the rental market
is completely full. This makes rental costs increase. The
average square metre price for a new apartment in 2013
was about 7.40 Euro according to the internet portal
immowelt.de. Five years ago, new tenants paid 6.00 Euro
on average, which is 23 percent less.
The phase in which “lots of premium-priced housing”
was being built is now over, says Jürgen Krogmann, Lord
Mayor of Oldenburg since the elections in October 2014.
He has launched a new “Housing Alliance” that gives the
issue top priority and hopes to give a new impetus to
developments. “I want to reach the point that we as the
city don’t necessarily have to go for the highest bidder
when selling off land for housing”, he says. “We want to
turn our attention more to sociopolitical developments.“
Furthermore, Krogmann wants to offer attractive pros -
pects for young families again, who have been forced
out to the suburbs in recent times because of the lack
of building land in Oldenburg.
In many cases, there simply isn’t the space to have new
single-family homes built within the city boundaries. This
is a real problem, because many young adults still see
their own home in a green setting as the most desirable
type
of housing. In a Forsa survey, nearly half the 18 to 35 yearolds
declared this to be their preferred kind of lifestyle.
The North West actually has plenty to offer in this respect,
as scarcely any other region in Germany has such a high
share of home ownership. According to a 2013 survey
by the Investment Bank of Lower Saxony (NBank), around
85 percent of the people in the rural district of Cloppenburg
owned their own home. The rural district of Oldenburg
was not far behind with 83 percent. The NBank
experts are generally optimistic for the rural districts of
Cloppenburg, Vechta and Ammerland: according to the
“Housing Forecast 2030”, they can probably expect to see
a further increase in population over the next few years.
The bad news is that there is a real risk of a continued rural
exodus in other areas. The Wesermarsch must expect a
further decline in population; the same can also be said
for the rural district of Friesland and in particular for the
independent towns of Delmenhorst and Wilhelmshaven.
Both have had to cope with a whole series of setbacks in
recent decades. Wilhelmshaven is banking on turning the
tide with the commissioning of the JadeWeserPort. There
are justified grounds to hope for greater capacity utilisation
of Germany’s first deep water port, which would
bring new jobs and put new life into the town on the
Jadebusen. According to Stefan Wittke, spokesman for the
Lower Saxony Ministry of Economics: “Things are definitely
moving gradually in the right direction.“ For example,
the “MSC Oscar” which is currently the world’s largest
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