During the 2022 Census, information will not only be collected on the population, but also the number of buildings and apartments in Germany and the housing situation of each household. As part of this survey, the statistical offices will interview the owners and administrators of buildings and apartments, as well as other persons entitled to manage and use such spaces.
The regional statistical offices will then check whether the information obtained on the relevant buildings and respondents is accurate and up-to-date in preparation for the actual survey of buildings and housing in May 2022, so that the process runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

The Statistical Offices of the Federation and the Länder would like to provide information on the survey to make it as easy and convenient as possible for respondents to perform their legal duty to provide information.

Information on the submission of data by May 2022

In accordance with Section 12 of the 2022 Census Preparation Act (ZensVorbG 2022), the regional statistical offices are responsible for ascertaining the owners and administrators of living space to determine the respondents for the census of buildings and housing. The contents of the survey are defined by an EU regulation which is implemented in Germany through the Census Act (ZensG).
The following data will be collected (this is not an exhaustive list):

Building data

• Municipality, postcode and official municipality code
• Type of building (e.g. residential building, commercial building with apartment, dormitory)
• Ownership details (e.g. private ownership, homeowner association, housing company)
• Type of structure (e.g. detached, semi-detached, terraced)
• Year of construction
• Number of apartments
• Type of heating (e.g. district heating, central heating, floor heating)
• Energy source (e.g. fuel oil, coal)der Eigentümerin bewohnt, vermietet, leer stehend etc.)

Housing data

• Type of use (e.g. owner-occupied, rented, vacant)
• Reasons for vacancy
• Vacancy duration
• Living space
• Number of rooms
• Basic net rent
  

Additional auxiliary data for the statistical generation of households

• Names of up to two residents
• Number of residents

The complete list of data can be found in the Census Act.

Data security

The institutions responsible for the official statistics in Germany are trustworthy. Your data will be safe with us and protected against third-party access. Our secure connections and complex encryption algorithms ensure the security of all data transmitted during the data acquisition phase. When processing the data collected during our surveys, we anonymise the information and run a number of confidentiality processes before sharing the results. We only publish summarised results that do not allow any conclusions to be drawn about individual companies or persons.

Preliminary survey in 2021

A preliminary survey for the census of buildings and housing took place in 2021. As part of the survey, some owners and administrators of apartments and other buildings with living space were interviewed. The questions for the preliminary survey could be answered quickly and easily via a short online questionnaire. Those required to provide information received a letter containing their access data for the online questionnaire.

Information for housing companies

The Statistical Offices of the Federation and the Länder provide information on electronic data submissions and the survey schedule to make it as easy and convenient as possible for housing companies to perform their legal duty to provide information. You can find more information here.