After three hours it was over, the billion euros were gone. So the state-owned KfW bank had to end its support program for climate-friendly new buildings at 10.45 a.m. on Wednesday. It was already said at noon on the institute’s website: “Please do not submit a new application.”
It should be bitter news for many builders. Even for a particularly climate-friendly “Efficiency House 40”, better known as the KfW 40 standard, in most cases there is no longer any money from the state. In view of the rapidly increasing construction costs and ever higher lending rates firmly calculated with the subsidy – too many, as was shown on Wednesday.
Just two weeks ago, the Federal Ministry of Economics announced that applications for subsidized KfW loans would be accepted again from April 20. The federal government had made an additional one billion euros available for this. People in Berlin probably already suspected that the funds would not last long. So that more builders are supported at all, the subsidy was halved, to a repayment subsidy of a maximum of 18,750 euros. Theoretically, applications should be possible until the end of the year. In fact, the money didn’t even last until noon.
The funds have been used up – for the second time this year
The house banks had already prepared the applications for the development loans in the past few weeks and then submitted them from 7.45 a.m. with the start of the program within a short time, explained a KfW spokesman. The state bank then made commitments for as long as the funds provided lasted: almost exactly three hours.
It is the second time within a few weeks that KfW has stopped its new building subsidies because the money has been used up. Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) suddenly announced in January that no more applications would be approved – triggering angry protests from builders, the housing industry and the construction industry. The background was a veritable run on loans for the expiring support program for the less demanding KfW 55 new buildings.
After a few days, Habeck, Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) and Building Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD) then agreed on a compromise: Applications that had already been submitted should be processed with an additional five billion euros, and there should also be one more for the rest of the year Give a billion euros – but only for KfW 40 houses. The new funding was intended as an interim solution until the state support for climate-friendly houses is reorganized in the coming year. The rules for this should be in place in the summer.
However, the funding does not end completely: Applications would be accepted again from Thursday, it said – but only for the most demanding KfW 40 variant, the so-called sustainability class. For them, however, buildings must meet special “ecological, sociocultural and economic” requirements and be certified. It is questionable how many private builders can and want to do this.