Rising prices, interest rates and a shortage of skilled workers: fewer and fewer house builders

Created: 06/10/2022, 17:00

By: Raphael Scherer

Two men work in a new building, of which there will probably be fewer (symbol image).

© Nestor Bachmann, dpa

There are fewer and fewer home builders in the district due to rising prices.

At the same time, fears of higher rents are growing.

District – More and more people in the district are putting their plans to build their own house on hold: “Construction companies still have enough to do with commercial buildings, but there is a pretty big slump in homes at the moment,” says district master craftsman Johann Schwaiger.

Due to inflation, i.e. rising prices, and interest rate developments, about a third of the population is simply no longer able to finance the construction of their own home with their own funds, estimates Grafinger Schwaiger.

In some cases, planning applications that have already been submitted are being withdrawn.

Homeowners can only plan with their wages

This is confirmed by the construction department in the Ebersberg district office: While the number of building applications increased during the pandemic, there were still 770 building applications submitted in 2019, compared to 1017 last year, and the forecast number for 2022 is down again at 833.

This mainly affects small builders who have relied on building their own homes, explains Schwaiger.

Commercial builders could at least cope with the rising costs a little more easily by extending depreciation to five years, while homeowners, on the other hand, would have to reckon with the fixed wages they earn.

The building authority in Vaterstetten registers more applications

In the Vaterstetten building authority, the decline is still a long time coming: "I would say that we have had around 10 to 15 percent more applications in the last two or three months than in the previous months.

But I expect that this will be put into perspective again over the next few months," says Brigitte Littke from the building authority in Vaterstetten.

And she adds: "It is interesting that more and more applications are now being submitted for projects or plots of land that have been repeatedly planned over the years and have been discussed with the builders in our building consultation, but the building applications are only coming in now, for one Time when interest and construction costs will probably continue to rise.” She suspects that the rising interest rates for financing will mean that citizens and companies are still trying to take advantage of reasonably affordable loans.

Tenants fear the turn of the year

Renting as an alternative, on the other hand, has hardly become any more attractive, explains Norman Sauer from the Grafinger Tenants' Association.

Although the demand for rental apartments has continued to rise since the pandemic, there is already a fear in many places that residents will soon no longer be able to afford the rent, precisely because of the rising ancillary costs.

"But that was before that, keyword: pensioners," adds Sauer.

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However, the big shock will probably not come until next year, when the immensely high gas and electricity bills begin to arrive.

Even as a landlord, you can't simply magic away the costs: "The situation affects us all."

Lack of skilled workers as a fundamental problem

A long-term trend for the construction and housing market is difficult to predict, explains district master craftsman Schwaiger, after all no one can say how the situation surrounding the Ukraine war and the associated high prices for oil, gas and raw materials will continue.

"Wait and see and drink coffee" is his "recommendation".

At the same time, the biggest obstacle everywhere: a lack of skilled workers.

"The biggest problem for us at the moment is that there aren't enough people there to provide building advice and process applications.

The district office in Ebersberg and the municipality of Zorneding are also struggling with this," says Littke's experience in the town hall in Vaterstetten.

All companies are looking for trainees and skilled workers

District master craftsman Schwaiger can only confirm this: "Many companies are looking, looking, and looking for trainees in all areas" and look around at trade fairs.

"I don't know of any company in the district that isn't looking for some kind of worker - whether it's a butcher, carpenter, baker or whatever," says Schwaiger.

If large companies, such as BMW in Parsdorf, then also recruit the few skilled workers that are still available, it would be "not a good development" for the Ebersberg district in the long term.

You can read more news from the Ebersberg region here.

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