Construction industry raises the alarm: "Housing construction collapses with announcement"

400,000 apartments are to be built in Germany every year – at least that is the plan. However, the goal is a long way off. According to ntv information from the federal government, the construction and real estate industry now wants to make a lot of steam.

In the construction and real estate industry, displeasure is growing that the construction of affordable housing in Germany is stagnating. Several people familiar with the matter confirmed to ntv that various associations want to send a clear signal to the federal government this week. Among other things, a 12-point plan is planned, in which Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz are called on to act. Housing construction in Germany should be made a top priority. The associations suggest a more targeted focus on serial construction.

In its coalition agreement, the traffic light government had set itself the goal of 400,000 new apartments per year. Federal Building Minister Geywitz did not want to give up the goal just yet. However, the social democrat is becoming increasingly skeptical as to whether it can actually be achieved.

On the other hand, Axel Gedaschko, President of the Central Association of the Housing Industry GdW, is much more pessimistic. “We are no longer able to create affordable housing in Germany,” he told ntv, adding that he only expects around 250,000 new homes to be built this year. In 2023 it is estimated that there will only be 200,000. “In 2024 – if nothing significant happens – it will be even less,” said the GdW President. “So we’re getting further and further away from the figure of 400,000. The conditions are dramatically poor, and housing construction is now on the verge of collapsing.”

A few days ago, Gedaschko sharply criticized the federal government in a speech on Housing Industry Day. The main focus was on the programs of the German Reconstruction Loan Corporation (KfW) that had been stopped prematurely by Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck. “The new building subsidy was as good as flattened,” says Gedaschko.