Housing in Germany: decline in the number of order at risk of affordable living space

Housing in Germany: decline in the number of order at risk of affordable living space

The crisis in housing is not an inevitable natural law

The current figures on the order in housing construction in May 2024, published by the Federal Statistical Office, give rise to concern. Felix Pakleppa, managing director of the Central Association of German Construction, commented on the numbers and emphasized that the order situation continues to develop disappointingly. Compared to May 2023, the orders decreased by 5 percent. By May 2024, cumulative for the previous year there will be about 4 percent or around 260 million euros. Compared to 2022, it is even 2.6 billion euros less, which means a real decline of around 35 percent.

This development has serious consequences, especially for tenants in Germany who can no longer find affordable apartments, and for many householders whose dream of their own home remains unfulfilled. Above all, increasing construction interest and high energy requirements are now the most.

It is important to emphasize that the housing crisis is not inevitable. Politicians have all the necessary instruments in their hands to end this crisis immediately. A reduction in energetic requirements, more attractive grants and a higher interest rack could make construction and investors more attractive. The eh 55 funding, which was deleted in 2022 in 2022, is particularly painfully missed, as reported by the construction companies. Politicians have an ASA under their sleeves, but does not use it, although significantly more could be built with this funding instrument. A reduction in regulations would be the largest blessing for the construction industry. There are currently more than 20,000 building regulations in Germany. We should be able to do without non -necessary building standards that do not affect building security. It does not always have to be the most luxurious variant of the technical construction specifications. This could make construction projects less demanding and cheaper. There is a lot of savings potential in the area of ​​step and sound insulation, without the quality of suffering. The many apartment seekers in Germany would benefit from this. Therefore, the entire construction industry has great expectations of building type e.

The sales in the construction industry are stagnating at the previous year's level of almost 39 billion euros (-0.2 percent). There is a differentiated development in the various home parties. Sales in business construction rose by 2.6 percent to around 17.4 billion euros, while an increase of 5 percent to EUR 12.7 billion was recorded in public construction. These growth equalize the minus in housing construction of a good 11 percent. Overall, the growth is carried by civil engineering, which recorded an increase of 8.4 percent. This is reflected both in the order situation in the transport infrastructure area and in the expansion of the energy infrastructure.

The orders in civil engineering could not build on the positive previous year comparison values ​​of the previous months in the commercial building in May (minus 9 percent). However, this is more likely to be due to a basic effect, as major projects had caused an upswing in the previous year. It is expected that demand in the area of ​​mobility and energy infrastructure will continue to be positive. By May we recorded an increase of approximately 800 million euros (+ 9 percent).

It is urgently necessary for politics to take measures to end the crisis in housing. This is the only way to create affordable living space for everyone and the construction industry stimulated. The current data show that the housing crisis is not inevitable and that solutions are available to overcome it. Politicians have to act and take the right steps to bring about a positive change.