https://hdl.handle.net/10419/175002 2026-10-23T10:56:52Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/335680 Title: DIW Weekly Report, No. 1+2/2026 Editors: Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW) 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/335679 Title: The era of ever-larger dwellings in Germany is coming to an end Authors: Kholodilin, Konstantin; Kohl, Sebastian Abstract: Over the past 150 years, living space consumption has increased significantly-in Germany from less than half a room to almost two rooms per capita. The average living space per person more than doubled between 1956 and 2024, reaching 49.2 square meters. Rising incomes enabled the construction of ever larger dwellings which led to improved living conditions. Today, the majority of people live in spacious dwellings instead of cramped conditions. At the same time, this means that more resources per capita are required for construction, maintenance, and heating. However, the early 2000s marked a turning point: the size of newly built apartments began to decline. This decline has been particularly noticeable in rental apartments in big cities since the 2010s. This Weekly Report attributes the trend reversal, which can be observed not only in Germany but also in many other countries, to three factors: shrinking household sizes, rising real estate prices and rents, as well as new land use regulations that restrict the construction of single-family homes. The results suggest that the demand for housing is undergoing a structural change, with smaller, more energy-efficient, apartments becoming more important. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/336231 Title: DIW Weekly Report, No. 3/2026 Editors: Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW) 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/10419/338053 Title: Women on the executive and supervisory boards of large companies: The upward trend of recent years has largely stalled Authors: Antezza, Arianna; Meiner, Alina; Wrohlich, Katharina Abstract: The proportion of women on the executive and supervisory boards of Germany's largest private companies has risen considerably since data collection for the DIW Women Executives Barometer began 20 years ago. While it was just over one percent on the executive boards of Germany's 200 highest-revenue companies in 2006, it is now around 19 percent. The proportion of women on supervisory boards in the top 200 group has risen from just under 8 percent to around 34 percent since 2006. The trend is very similar in the other corporate groups surveyed, including DAX companies as well as the country's largest banks and insurance companies. However, the latest Women Executives Barometer is a downer in this regard: in late fall 2025, the proportion of women on the executive boards of almost all corporate groups surveyed had stagnated compared to 2024; in some places it has even declined. One exception is the financial sector, where the proportion of women on executive boards has continued to increase. It is still too early to assess whether this development is just a slight dip in the long-term positive trend or whether it marks the beginning of a longer phase of stagnation or even decline in the proportion of women in management positions. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z