CDU politician Jens Spahn has been heavily criticized for buying his villa in Berlin’s Dahlem district. Now he has sold the property – and admits mistakes to t-online.
There was no blessing on the property: When the then Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) and his husband Daniel Funke bought the property in the posh Berlin district of Dahlem in July 2020, criticism rained down. Above all, the stately amount of the purchase price and the question of financing the required 4.125 million euros were discussed. Jens Spahn took legal action against parts of the reporting in which, among other things, the purchase price and details of the real estate transaction were published. However, he was defeated and had to accept the publication of the purchase price. Interest in his residence did not wane in the years that followed.
As t-online has now learned exclusively, Jens Spahn and Daniel Funke have separated from their property.
“Yes, we sold the house,” confirms Jens Spahn when asked by t-online. “The purchase back then was the wrong time, in the middle of the pandemic,” admits the CDU politician. “The hoped-for place of retreat has become a source of unrest, also due to our own mistakes in dealing with it.”
To this day, demonstrators and onlookers are standing in front of the house: “Anonymous mail comes regularly, just recently a package with faeces,” says Spahn.
Sale without profit
According to information from t-online, the couple sold their house with the help of a broker for 5.3 million euros. Accordingly, the 42-year-old Spahn and his 41-year-old husband made no profit from the real estate business. t-online has seen documents showing that the purchase price, renovation and ancillary purchase costs together amount to almost 5.5 million euros. The couple made a loss of 200,000 euros through the sale.
The documents also provide information about the details of the financing: The couple financed around 80 percent of the costs of buying the house, the extensive renovation, brokerage, additional costs and taxes through loans and around 20 percent (one million euros) from the sale of an apartment and stock gains.
Spahn added to the reasons for the quick sale to t-online: “Financially we had stretched. We are no different than many others who are fulfilling the dream of their own four walls. Inflation is doing the rest.”
Line under the chapter Dahlem
The reporting by the magazine “Der Spiegel” under the title “Der Schatz vom Attersee” may have played a further role in the decision to sell. The “Spiegel” reporters investigated whether Spahn and Funke were only able to acquire the villa due to a considerable inheritance from Daniel Funke’s father and researched extensively in Spahn’s husband’s private environment. He works as a consultant for the Burda publishing house and is not in the public eye because of a political function.
With the sale, the Spahn couple are now drawing a line under the luxury villa chapter. Jens Spahn said in an interview with t-online: “Our happiness does not depend on a house. That’s why we decided on a clear cut.”
Until the couple has found a new property, Spahn and Funke will stay in the villa. Moving out of the house is planned for the middle of the year.
Note: The article was subsequently changed slightly.
