It is being built in the district of Starnberg, but a certain reluctance is noticeable in view of the circumstances (symbolic image). © IMAGO
In 2022, more apartments were completed in the district than in the year before Corona. But affordable housing in particular is becoming increasingly difficult to realize due to price increases, high interest rates and insufficient subsidies. The Housing Association has therefore already postponed two major projects.
District – Among the municipalities in the Five Lakes Region, the townscape in Herrsching is likely to have changed the most in the past year. Almost one in four apartments completed in the district of Starnberg in 2022 is located in the Ammersee municipality. There were a total of 602 in the region, according to an overview now published by the Bavarian State Office for Statistics. It is not only Herrsching that stands out from it, but also the fact that more housing projects were completed in all pandemic years than in 2019. That year there were 522, followed by 2020 in 584 and 2021 in 619.
Last year, however, more than 40 percent of the apartments were built in detached and semi-detached houses. The Industrial Union for Construction, Agriculture and the Environment takes up the Starnberg figures in a press release. In it, district chairman Harald Wulf warns of a downward trend in the current year of construction: "Construction projects are being put on hold. This is because high construction costs meet high interest rates and high hurdles in construction due to government requirements and regulations. It's a toxic mix for housing." The union also appeals to the members of the Bundestag in the Five Lakes Region to make a strong case for a "massive increase in subsidies". A "booster" for the construction of new affordable housing is urgently needed.
Association-Housing representative: "The market has exploded"
Wolfgang Robl, Technical Director at the Housing Association based in Starnberg, immediately signed this demand. He speaks of "price-controlled apartments", more than 2500 of them have now been built by the association in the district. But Robl wonders how this will still be possible in the future in view of the price increases. "The market has exploded," he says. And pretty fast.
In mid-2022, the association's tenants moved into new houses in Wörthsee with 30 and Gilching with 18 apartments. Compared to these most recent projects, Robl calculates 30 percent more for the current project on Osterfeldstraße in Aufkirchen, where 33 apartments are to be built. Also because the construction loan is no longer available for 0.8 percent interest, but almost four percent would be due. And due to the higher state requirements for insulation, the association, for example, currently costs 1200 euros more for each apartment entrance door. We support the energy transition and climate protection, says Robl, but the increased energy requirements are not affordable without appropriate subsidies. For this reason, the association has postponed two major projects – on Pötschenerstraße in Gauting and Schönmoosweg in Tutzing – by two years.
Because the municipalities that support the association are also short of cash, rents for new construction projects will have to rise, Robl said. "It will go in the direction of twelve euros per square meter." He does not see any other solution at the moment.
In general, it can be said that construction is continuing in the district, but a certain reluctance is noticeable. According to spokeswoman Barbara Beck, the district office has registered 318 new building applications so far this year. In the whole of the previous year, there were 766, in 2021 still 913.
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