How left the German capital ticks was not only shown by the election to the Berlin House of Representatives.
The referendum on socialization - commonly known as expropriation - of the large housing construction companies, which was won by a large majority, shows the longing of many Berliners for a downright socialist solution to the growing housing shortage, including horrific increases in rents for normal wage earners.
The Robin Hood moment of many angry tenants, finally showing greedy corporations the dark red card, could soon end in a hangover. Even before election Sunday, the likely future first governing mayor, Franziska Giffey, had publicly stated what she thought of the expropriation initiative: nothing.
And even after winning the election, the SPD woman with a sense of reality does not speak to the fans of the planned economy, who are in charge of the left-wing party, which is still in the coalition.
Not a single new apartment is created through expropriations.
That is a pleasantly strong commitment to realpolitik in a city where little works.
There is also much to suggest that an expropriation law, like the Berlin rent cap, will fail the constitutional test.
Giffey can also be trusted to swivel in the middle to a Berlin traffic light with the Greens and FDP in order to create more apartments with a social market economy and ecological construction.
It would be a worthwhile experiment for the capital.