Germany: Decline in building permits | Nachrichten.at

2023-09-22 08:04:00

After a decline of around a quarter in the first half of the year, the number in July was also significantly below the previous year’s value at minus 31.5 percent. This emerges from current data from the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden.

The new construction or conversion of 21,000 apartments was approved in July, 9,600 fewer than a year ago. High construction prices and increased interest rates have been slowing down the real estate industry for months. In the first half of the year, the number of building permits for apartments fell by 27.8 percent to 156,200 apartments compared to the same period last year.

Real estate and construction associations assume that the German federal government’s goal of 400,000 new apartments annually will clearly be missed this year.

According to the Federal Office, 128,300 apartments were approved in newly constructed residential buildings between January and July. That was 31.6 percent less than in the same period last year. The number of building permits for single-family homes fell by a good third (minus 36.5 percent) to 30,800.

In the case of two-family houses, the number of approved apartments fell by more than half (minus 53.2 percent) to 8,900. The number of approved apartments also fell significantly in multi-family houses: by more than a quarter (minus 27.5 percent) to 83,600.