Pforzheim: Boomtown is reaching its limits

Affordable housing? In most of the big cities there is no such thing. Many therefore look for a home outside of the city – for example in Pforzheim. The “dormitory city” on the A8 is growing – and is already reaching its limits.

Another shell: Almost every week Pforzheim’s mayor Sibylle Schüssler is at a construction site, celebrating the topping-out ceremony. The small city with its 126,000 inhabitants is currently building 350 to 400 new apartments per year, creating new development areas and issuing building permits. And why? Because the influx is unbroken.

“Attractive residential location”

“We are an attractive place to live,” explains the building mayor, “conveniently located between Karlsruhe and Stuttgart. But in contrast to the big cities, we still have affordable living space.”

Appropriate post-war architecture

An “attractive location” – in the case of Pforzheim this is primarily meant geographically. After the city was almost razed to the ground with a single bombardment during the Second World War, the city center is still dominated by rapidly rising post-war architecture, more functional than “attractive”.

And yet Pforzheim is well known to many, at least as a motorway exit, as a blue sign on the A8, about 50 kilometers from Stuttgart and 30 from Karlsruhe. A busy route, cursed by many because of the high traffic density and the many traffic jams – for people like the Hofmanns, however, the A8 is the gateway to the (work) world.

You have made yourself comfortable in “Tiergarten 1”, one of the many new building areas that have emerged in Pforzheim in recent years. Both have well-paid jobs. And both commute. You as a sales representative, he at a large Stuttgart automobile manufacturer.

Moving to Stuttgart straight away was never an option for her. “Stuttgart has become priceless, it is now comparable to Munich,” says Sabine Hofmann. “For the prices you have to pay for a house in Stuttgart, you simply get more here.” With this attitude you are not alone in your new housing estate.

Many commute daily

Many people commute from here every day to the major employers in the region, to Daimler, Porsche, and Bosch. Her neighbor Markus Ziegler: “Pforzheim just doesn’t have as many qualified jobs as Karlsruhe or Stuttgart and that’s why many have settled here who simply have to commute,” he says, putting his finger in the wound of economic developer Markus Epple.

He’s standing on the edge of a cornfield looking a little worried. “This is the last available developed commercial property in the city of Pforzheim. That’s it then.” In plain language: “For Pforzheim this means: We can no longer establish new businesses, we can no longer help companies to get ahead and therefore cannot create any new jobs.”

“They only come to sleep”

In fact, the number of unemployed in Pforzheim has recently risen, in June it was seven percent – a high value for Baden-Württemberg. And yet significantly more people move into Pforzheim every year than they do away from the city. “But of those who move here, many are either poorly qualified or they already have a good job, but not here with us. They basically only come to Pforzheim to sleep,” says economic developer Markus Epple. “Dormitory city”, this is the name Pforzheim has meanwhile developed.

The building mayor prefers the term “swarm city”, that is, a popular new city. But she, too, knows, no matter what you call the phenomenon, it also poses problems. “We also have to create the infrastructure for all the people who come here. We need daycare centers, schools, jobs. Creating living space alone is not enough.”

And then there is the matter of the price trend. Because living has become more expensive in Pforzheim due to the increasing demand. And yet the boom seems unbroken.

The next new housing estate is coming

The Hofmanns in the new development “Tiergarten 1” will soon have new neighbors. Because in the coming year, the construction of “Tiergarten 2” is to begin. That means: another few hundred new residents. And undoubtedly there will again be a lot of commuters who will queue up in the morning, bumper to bumper, on the way to the motorway, out of the “dormitory city” and back again in the evening.

Many of them may feel the same way as Sabine Hofmann, who says: “Pforzheim is really not a pearl. But for us a good compromise.”

An “attractive location”, at least geographically. And at least as long as the pressure from the surrounding cities continues. But there is currently no sign of easing on the housing market.