City of Jena wants more room for maneuver for new housing construction

More opportunities to acquire urgently needed residential building land and develop new housing: This is the aim of several pre-emption right statutes that the city of Jena presented to the Committee for Urban Development, Environment, Climate Protection and Sustainability (SUA) on 21.05.2026.

If the city council adopts the bylaws, the city will be able to take the place of private buyers in the sale of certain properties and acquire the land itself. The basis for this is the Building Code, which allows municipalities this special right of first refusal if it serves the public good.

"Jena needs affordable housing and at the same time more opportunities to act in order to secure important areas for urban development in the long term. With the pre-emption right statutes, we are creating an option to become a landowner in order to be able to develop housing potential step by step in the interests of the citizens," explains Dirk Lange, Head of Urban Development and Environment.

More room for maneuver in housing development

The background to this is the tense situation on the Jena housing market. The demand for housing has been high for years. At the same time, the city only has a few areas of its own that are suitable for housing construction. The aim is therefore to create more affordable and price-stabilizing housing in the long term - also in order to keep Jena attractive as a place to live and work.

The planned statutes are part of the "Jena residential building land model", which the city council adopted in 2024. The city of Jena had already previously developed various housing policy strategies and guidelines in order to strengthen the municipal scope for action in housing development.

Scope of the right of first refusal

The new pre-emption rights are to apply in particular where areas offer good conditions for housing construction - for example, due to a favorable location, good public transport connections or the potential for many new apartments. This also applies to areas where development has so far been hampered by complicated ownership structures.

The so-called "Package 1" includes the following areas:

• Kapellendorfer Weg in Isserstedt

• Area at the valley school in the Kernberge district

• An der Trebe in Wenigenjena

• Mädertal in Jena-Süd

• Closewitzer Straße in Jena-North

When the right of first refusal applies

The statutes do not mean that properties are expropriated or that construction is carried out directly on the affected areas. A right of first refusal only comes into consideration if owners sell their plots.

The prerequisite for this is a legally valid purchase agreement. As soon as the city is duly informed of the sale, it checks within three months on the basis of the purchase contract whether the legal requirements for exercising the right of first refusal have been met. Only then does it decide whether to make use of it.

One of the aims of the right of first refusal is to prevent properties from being traded solely for speculative reasons. In cases where the agreed purchase price significantly exceeds the applicable standard land value, the city has the right to limit the amount to be paid to the actual market value at the time of purchase.

Purchase of potential sites by KIJ

The purchase of potential sites is carried out by the municipal real estate company Kommunale Immobilien Jena (KIJ). The city council will decide on specific development plans and possible construction projects at a later date. Citizens and other stakeholders will also be involved in this process. Possible effects on the climate and environment will also be examined in the further process.

The pre-emption right statutes are to be published on the City of Jena's website and also displayed on the city's map portal once the resolution has been passed.