Suche
Mein Konto
There is no end in sight to the housing shortage in Germany. The situation is getting worse, especially in metropolitan areas. In Berlin, for example, around 13,000 new apartments are built every year - with an influx of 65,000 people per year. But for most people, renting or even buying an apartment is just a dream that they no longer believe will come true after many unsuccessful searches for an apartment. In addition to the shortage of offers, the increased prices and, in particular, the high interest rates also play a major role: for many housing associations, an investment in housing construction is either no longer in the budget plan or the rents would have to be increased to such an extent that this is no longer feasible for a normal household. Issues such as poverty in old age, problems for young families or hindrance to the immigration of skilled workers are the concrete consequences.
The situation in rural areas is different than in Berlin or other large cities. Here, landlords report that they cannot find tenants for the best apartments - for example in the Bavarian area - even though, in contrast to Berlin, the infrastructure, for example in the area of kindergartens, is excellent.
Tim-Oliver Müller, managing director of the Main Association of the German Construction Industry, told the Berliner Zeitung: "With current real estate prices and building interest rates, someone who wants to buy an 80 square meter apartment in a big city would have to earn between 8,000 and 10,000 euros net per month. Nobody can afford that."
The numbers are worrying: In residential construction, orders had already collapsed by 23.8 percent in real terms in August 2022 and fell again by 6.5 percent in August of this year, according to the figures published on Wednesday by the Federal Statistical Office for the Construction Industry. In the first eight months of this year, sales in the construction industry were 4.0 percent lower in real terms than in the same period last year, and in residential construction they were even down 10.8 percent. There is no improvement in sight. Tim-Oliver Müller: "The situation on the housing market is getting much worse. Because construction projects have to be approved before orders are received, and the number of approvals has been falling for months. Next year, the political goal of 400,000 new apartments will therefore be missed by a long way, and not even 200,000 apartments are expected to be built."
Müller criticizes the federal government's inaction and accuses it of setting the wrong priorities: "I don't understand how the state can spend money on so many things, but threatens to fail on an issue that can lead to a serious social crisis - when the basic right to housing can no longer be guaranteed." Apparently the most recent crisis talks have not achieved anything: "Four weeks after the construction summit with the federal government, we have not yet received a concrete signal as to how things should proceed. I don't understand that," said association leader Müller.
The industry has clear ideas about how some relief from the emergency could be achieved in the coming year. Müller: “We need an interest reduction program from KfW for buildings with the EH55 standard in order to be able to tackle all the already approved projects that are already on the shelf today.” The head of the association is convinced: “If there were loans with two percent interest for housing construction projects, tens of thousands more apartments could be built in the coming year and rents could be made at 10 or 12 euros instead of 20 euros per square meter.”
Müller sees a need for political action because otherwise companies would turn away from housing construction due to a lack of economic prospects: "The construction industry is not doing badly, but housing construction is doing badly. If no apartments are built, then construction companies and craftsmen go into other areas such as renovation or infrastructure. There is enough to do."
The Federal Statistical Office published a significant increase in orders for the entire construction industry: In August, incoming orders were 10.8 percent above the level of the previous month, and compared to the previous year there was even a real increase of 17.5 percent. Tim-Oliver Müller explains that the current economic indicators for the construction industry must be seen in context: "This positive development in incoming orders is good, but can only be attributed to several large projects in railway construction. This is positive for railway construction companies, but cannot and should not hide the fact that incoming orders in residential construction are still declining."
The increase in the main construction industry is due, on the one hand, to the real doubling of orders in civil engineering - which predominantly includes the railway - and, on the other hand, to a statistical base effect, after all, incoming orders fell by 15.6 percent in the same month of the previous year (August 2022). “The declines are only weakening due to the statistical effects, not because the bottom has been reached in housing construction or because enough measures have been taken by politicians to finally turn things around,” Müller summarizes the situation in a statement from the association. “For the entire construction industry, there is still a real order decline of 7.6 percent for the first eight months – despite the good development in civil engineering,” says Müller. “It is therefore not surprising that sales in August only showed real stagnation on the already poor previous year’s figure.”
The fact that sales in the construction industry were not even worse is also due to statistical effects; after all, real sales declines have been reported since April 2022.