Berlin has supply, the limited resource are vintage buildings (pre-war or rebuilt in the same layout) and no market force can create more of them. The abundant 1970ies style developments will never see gentrification.
Is this the courtyard style apartment building you see in Berlin? Is there a name for those? I'm guessing these are the desirable ones?
Its most charming qualities are high ceilings (3-4 meters), historicist ornamentals / stucco, natural ventilation (Fugenlüftung), wooden flooring and boy-type windows. All of these increase quality of living substantially and I wouldn't want to live in any other kind of building if given the choice.
I don't get the fascination with this. Sure, it's prettier than the Soviet blocks, but that's all they've got going for them. People don't build new buildings that way for a reason. The Soviet blocks are a bad alternative because they were made so cheaply, not because they're newer. I would much rather live in something from this millennium than something "vintage".
>The abundant 1970ies style developments will never see gentrification
If the city keeps growing and getting wealthier then it will. Ok, maybe they'll have to tear them down and build new or something, but those areas are not "safe".
That's not true, the big thing they offer is lively streets. First by providing the necessity density (houses in the backyards) and usually come with a commercial space in the ground floor that can be used for a shop, a bar or restaurant.
You simply don't find those with new developments, or rather it's the exception then the rule.
I guess it's easier to sell a house with a big garage in the ground floor than a bar, but in the end that just leaves the street dead.
In San Francisco, I've talked to the owners of a few bikeshops, and they have good relationships with their landlords. The landlords are willing charge less rent because they feel the neighborhood needs certain types of shop. A commercial developer may not share these same ideals.