The Federal Association of Free Real Estate and Housing Companies (BFW) commented on the recently published building permit figures from the Federal Statistical Office and sees no basis for an all-clear. BFW President Dirk Salewski stated in Berlin that building permits merely reflect the intention to build. The actual market situation is primarily reflected by the number of construction starts.
While a stabilisation of the downward trend in building permits is to be welcomed, it is not sufficient to generate a genuine upward trend and create the urgently needed housing. This requires the long-announced measures to reform housing construction.
Call for concrete implementation
Salewski emphasised that the cornerstones of the so-called Building Type E, which were presented by the Federal Minister for Housing and the Federal Minister of Justice, have been known for almost a year. However, a concrete draft law on this is still not available. This lack of implementation speed is delaying fundamental change. Building Type E offers the opportunity to significantly improve the framework conditions for construction by enabling simpler, more cost-effective and faster building.
The BFW President underlined the necessity of now moving into concrete implementation. He noted an obvious deficit in the required speed of the Federal Government and urgently called upon it to act. The immense demand for affordable housing in conjunction with high construction costs requires pragmatic solutions.
Potential of housing construction
The construction industry is prepared to contribute to the creation of housing. However, this is only possible if affordable and practicable standards are established. Only in this way can housing construction fully unleash its potential and bring relief to the housing market.
- —Building permit figures only reflect the intention to build, not actual construction starts.
- —Building Type E is seen as an opportunity to simplify and accelerate construction.
- —A concrete draft law for Building Type E is still pending, despite its cornerstones being known for a year.
- —The construction industry demands affordable and practicable standards to revitalise housing construction.
