HANNOVER (dpa-AFX) – Despite rising interest rates and building prices, the federal government is sticking to its goal of 400,000 new apartments per year. “Even if times are very turbulent when it comes to this goal, we are not giving up, not even in view of the rise in interest rates,” said Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) on Wednesday at the German Savings Banks Conference in Hanover. This did not make the project easy. But: “Building is basically possible even with higher interest rates. That was the case for decades.”
At the beginning of the 1970s, more than 800,000 apartments were built at an interest rate level of around nine percent, said Scholz. In addition, the federal, state, local authorities, construction industry and financial institutions could start with some adjustment screws so that the construction costs decrease. Scholz mentioned more serial and modular construction, fewer standards that drive up costs, faster planning and approval, digital building applications and the provision of more building land.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, 295,300 apartments were completed in Germany last year. The construction industry expects a maximum of 250,000 new homes this year.
The federal government has provided funding of 14.5 billion euros for social housing for the period from 2022 to 2026. “That’s a record amount,” said Scholz in Hanover. At the same time, private investment is needed. He is “extremely grateful” to the savings banks for committing to financing new buildings and subsidized apartments./sk/DP/jha
Leverage must be between 2 and 20
No data