As of: February 9, 2024, 9:55 a.m
By: Amy Walker
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With his statement about the new construction goals, Chancellor Olaf Scholz angered the construction industry.
Instead of announcing new goals, action should finally be taken.
Berlin - Chancellor Olaf Scholz has described the federal government's previously missed goal of building 400,000 new apartments per year in Germany as the lower limit of demand.
“The topic concerns me,” he said.
400,000 apartments are “rather too few than too many”.
There are a number of reasons why the target has not yet been achieved.
This includes, among other things, a psychological problem caused by a rapid rise in interest rates in recent years, but also an “incredible miscalculation” due to the construction of too many expensive apartments, said Scholz.
“We finally have to act”: The construction industry finally demands action
But Scholz did not arouse much joy, at least in parts of the construction industry.
“The Chancellor’s statement does not help the housing industry!
We must not just make statements again and again, but must finally act and implement the well-intentioned advice,” says the President of the Hessian construction industry, Thomas Reimann, to
Ippen.Media.
Instead, Scholz and Construction Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD) must finally “fulfill and deliver his promises from September 25, 2023 in order to bring investors back and show reliability,” said the entrepreneur.
In September 2023, industry representatives were invited to Berlin to discuss some measures to stimulate the industry at a construction summit with the government coalition.
This resulted in the promise of a “construction turbo” that, among other things, is intended to streamline planning and approval procedures.
In November, the federal and state governments also agreed on a pact to simplify the approval process.
Apartments in Frankfurt am Main are still under construction.
© Boris Roessler/dpa
However, little has happened so far, partly because the federal government was mainly busy with the budget in the last few months of the year.
Scholz stated this week that Geywitz is working to dismantle the many bureaucratic regulations that continue to slow down the construction industry.
But it is also crucial: “There cannot be more apartments without more building land, not without more density,” said Scholz.
When it comes to designating building land, the main responsibility lies not with the federal government or the state governments, but with the municipalities.
Bureaucracy is the central problem in the economy
“The Chancellor should tackle the bureaucratic monster with his staff,” Reimann continued in his reaction to the Chancellor.
And he calculates: “According to the Contemporary Building Working Group from Kiel, municipal specifications contribute an average of 172 euros per square meter to the construction costs of an apartment building.
Federal and state specifications add an additional 403 euros/m² to the construction costs, which results in a total cost of 575 euros/m².” Reducing bureaucracy alone could reduce prices sustainably.
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It's not just the construction industry that suffers from bureaucracy and requirements in Germany.
The German economy as a whole warns of too many requirements that are difficult to implement, especially in times of weak economic activity.
In a “fire letter” to Scholz at the end of January, leading associations and leading companies in the country called for a “signal of departure” from the federal government.
Specifically, the associations are calling for, for example, faster planning and approval procedures, a “liberation blow” in the bureaucracy, a tax reform, a “stop sign” in social security contributions and reforms in pensions.
The letter comes from the presidents of the Federal Association of German Employers' Associations, the Federal Association of German Industry, the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Central Association of German Crafts.
With material from Reuters and dpa