On the move to expropriate Berlin property

Would the upcoming referendum on property expropriation set a precedent for the rest of Germany?

Dear Reader,

This is the first members’ newsletter after my summer break. Thanks for bearing with me, I hope to bring you some insightful content over the coming months.

This week I’m looking at an eye-catching proposal that's being put to a referendum in Berlin on September 26th - whether to expropriate around quarter of a million properties from private companies and put them into public ownership.

I want to address three questions. 1) Why did this initiative come about? 2) Could it solve the problem it claims to address? 3) Is it likely to happen?