Enlarge image
Construction site in Erlangen
Photo: Harry Koerber / IMAGO
Authorities approved more new construction projects last year than they have in more than 20 years.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, the number rose to 380,914 in 2021, an increase of 3.3 percent compared to the previous year.
However, the authority does not want to report on how many units have actually been completed until the summer.
According to experts, the so-called backlog of apartments that have been approved but have not been completed for various reasons is likely to have continued to grow.
Although almost 369,000 new apartments were approved in 2020, only a good 306,000 were completed.
According to the information, the increase in approvals in 2021 affected almost all types of new buildings.
There was an increase of 0.9 percent in single-family houses, 25.1 percent more in two-family houses and 2.2 percent more in apartment buildings.
Only for dormitories were fewer permits issued than in the same period of the previous year (minus 26.6 percent).
The main association of the German construction industry assesses the development critically.
Since the middle of the year, the number of permits has fallen and there is also a lack of multi-family houses in the metropolitan areas in order to quickly remedy the housing shortage.
The reasons given by the association in Berlin were the abolition of child benefit and the increasing shortage of materials and the resulting price increases in construction.
You need a clear funding structure and more serial and modular housing.
The traffic light coalition has set itself the goal of 400,000 new apartments per year.
One in four of these must be social housing and a further 60,000 units must also be affordable from middle and lower incomes, according to the “Social Housing” association.
It presented a study according to which annual funding of at least six billion euros was necessary.
The industrial union Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt called for more conversions in large cities.
4.3 million new apartments could be created simply by converting and adding stories to existing buildings.
Above all, approvals for roof extensions, on-top floors on commercial buildings, parking garages and shopping markets will be necessary in the future.
The association fears that the war in Ukraine will increase the need for housing again.
Editor's note: The year of the previous record year is 1999 and not 1998. We have corrected the information accordingly.
hey/dpa