Twelve months after the entry into force of the so-called Bau-Turbo fast-track planning mechanism, the real estate sector is recording tangible progress in delivering residential development projects. According to the German Property Federation (ZIA), the instrument enables faster planning and approval procedures across a growing number of municipalities. ZIA Chief Executive Aygül Özkan assesses that the cooperative acceleration of these processes generates genuine value for all project stakeholders and makes an effective contribution to providing urgently needed housing without delay.
A significant contribution to this development is made by the implementation lab of the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building. The platform provides federal states and municipalities with an institutionalised framework for sharing knowledge and practical experience in applying the new urban planning flexibilities. The federation had long called for such federal support for local authorities. In addition to saving time, the framework serves as an instrument to protect greenfield land, as it specifically facilitates densification on already sealed ground as well as vertical building extensions.
Call for planning certainty and reduced construction costs
In view of the positive interim findings, the leading property industry association advocates extending the currently time-limited validity of the Bau-Turbo beyond 2030. Setting the course early is considered essential to guarantee long-term planning certainty for developers and administrative bodies. Experiences over the past year have proven that procedures can be shortened considerably where the requisite political will exists.
The federation also calls for this spirit of reform in further legislative initiatives, particularly regarding Building Type E (Gebäudetyp E). In the ZIA's view, housing construction costs can only be lowered noticeably if a simplified baseline standard is established as the standard practice in construction. In the context of the upcoming amendment to the German Building Code (Baugesetzbuch), the advocacy group also demands that binding statutory caps on planning timescales be introduced alongside digital planning applications.
Data transparency in nationwide housing construction
To measure genuine progress in planning permissions and completions, the federation points to the analysis platform ZIA-BuildMap, operated in cooperation with technology company Syte. The digital tool aggregates official statistical data at the level of rural districts and independent cities, enabling well-founded regional market comparisons on the dynamics of new residential construction in Germany.
