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Construction site in Rendsburg, Schleswig-Holstein
Photo: Marcus Brandt / dpa
The decline in building permits for apartments in Germany continues.
In July, the German authorities approved the construction or renovation of 30,653 apartments.
That was a total of 2.2 percent less than a year earlier, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Friday.
In the first seven months, according to calculations by the Wiesbaden authorities, the number added up to 216,425 - a drop of 2.1 percent compared to the same period last year.
According to the information, a total of 187,561 apartments were approved in new residential buildings from January to July 2022.
That was 2.0 percent or 3807 fewer than in the same period last year.
The number of permits for single-family homes fell significantly by 16.1 percent to 48,613.
However, a year earlier, the Baukindergeld had increased the number of building permits in this category.
Are Berlin's goals at risk?
In the case of two-family houses, the number of approved apartments from January to July of the current year remained almost unchanged at 19,100 compared to the same period last year.
There was an increase of 7.1 percent in apartment buildings to 116,096 units.
The number of building permits is an important indicator of the housing shortage in many cities.
However, approved apartments are often not built at first because craftsmen and construction companies do not have the capacity due to high demand.
Increased prices for building materials and building land are also slowing down.
The federal government, made up of SPD, Greens and FDP, is pursuing the goal of building at least 400,000 new homes every year.
Of these, 100,000 are said to be publicly funded social housing.
A significant expansion of construction activity in Germany would be necessary to achieve this goal: since 2002, the number of newly completed apartments has only been slightly above the 300,000 mark in 2020.
In the past year , however , construction activity has already declined again .
beb/dpa
