From Hildburg Bruns
The ambitious new building plans of Giffey, Geisel & Co. are waste. The government and her building senator are actually planning 20,000 new apartments annually. “In 2022 I’ll put a big question mark behind it,” says Maren Kern (64), head of the Association of Berlin-Brandenburg Housing Companies (BBU).
The corona pandemic and the consequences of the Ukraine war are having a major impact on the BBU member companies, which represent almost half of the Berlin portfolio (including the Städtische, Genossenschaften, Vonovia).
►Completions: There were only 5,415 collections last year – for the first time since 2013, the numbers are going into reverse gear.
►Laying of the foundation stone: Only on new construction sites for 5520 apartments was started – compared to the previous year, a decrease of almost a third. Even fewer are planned for the current year, only 5376. Kern: “Whatever no foundation stone was laid last year cannot be re-occupied next year or the year after that.”
►Investments: Expenditure increased somewhat, but was eaten up by higher construction prices (in new construction + 9.1 percent). Glass became more expensive by 52 percent and steel by 72 percent. The bottom line was the lowest investment growth in 13 years – and falling figures for three years. Only every fifth company wants to implement its plans unchanged, the others are downsized, postponed, overturned.
CDU expert Stefanie Bung (44): “Now the fatal housing policy of the Berlin Senate is taking revenge. In addition to the bureaucratic hurdles and a lack of willingness to build new buildings, there is now a lack of raw materials and an extreme increase in construction prices. This basically shuts down housing construction.”
►Delays: Compared to 2018, a construction project in the current year is delayed by an average of 7 months from the award procedure to the building permit. Within this short period of time, building prices have risen by 172 euros/m².
►construction loans: After many zero years, the interest rate was already around 3.7 percent in July. With a EUR 200,000 loan for a 60 m² apartment, the financing costs triple from EUR 3,000 to EUR 7,300/m².
Almost surprising: There is a little more moving again. After the Corona low in 2020 (only 4.9 percent layoffs), every 20th person changed their home again in 2021.