Which is why fewer and fewer building permits are being issued
Compared to the previous year, the number of building permits issued fell by 2.3 percent. The planned creation of living space by politics and the construction industry can hardly meet the high demand.
The number of newly built apartments is falling more and more: 20 percent fewer building permits were issued in February compared to the previous year. The number of new one- and two-family houses also collapsed massively.
Dhe crisis in German residential construction threatens to worsen: The number of building permits fell in February for the tenth month in a row due to higher interest and material costs. Only 22,300 apartments were approved and thus 20.6 percent or 5800 fewer than a year earlier, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Tuesday.
The number has been falling continuously since May 2022, and since October 2022 the minus has been more than ten percent. “High costs for building materials and increasingly poor financing conditions are likely to have contributed to the decline in construction projects,” the statisticians explain the downward trend. The figures include commitments for apartments in new buildings as well as for new apartments in existing buildings.
The number of building commitments for single-family homes fell in February by an above-average rate, namely by 28.4 percent to 9,300. In the case of two-family houses, there was an even greater slump of 52.4 percent to 2,600 , the number of approved apartments fell significantly,” the statisticians emphasized. Here there was a minus of 23.0 percent to 23,700.
Construction industry calls for funding for new buildings
According to industry estimates, at best 250,000 apartments will be completed this year. Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD) has already admitted that the new construction target of the traffic light coalition of 400,000 apartments per year will also be missed in 2023.
The construction industry is therefore calling on the federal government to counteract this with significantly increased new construction subsidies. Despite the acute shortage of housing in Germany, building permits fell last year, by 6.9 percent to 354,400. This is the lowest value since 2018, as private builders in particular have been reluctant.
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