Real estate: Second stage of new construction funding started after application freeze

property
After application freeze, second stage of new construction funding started

Newly built apartments that were created under the KfW support program for efficiency houses KfW55 from the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau. Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa

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The funding for energy-saving new buildings is exhausted within a few hours. A similar flood of applications for the second stage of the state program at KfW is not initially apparent.

After the application freeze for the promotion of energy-saving new buildings, builders can now apply for funds from the second stage – albeit with more demanding specifications.

One does not expect that the program will be exhausted after just a few days, said a spokesman for the state development bank KfW on request. The FDP called for reliable new construction funding.

A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Economics said in Berlin that appropriate funds had been registered and allocated in the budget for stage two as part of the funds for federal funding for efficient buildings. An exact sum cannot be given at the moment, she said with a view to the planned supplementary budget of the federal government. The aim of the federal government is a sustainable and long-term reliable funding backdrop in the building sector.

Yesterday, only a few hours after the start of the first stage of funding, applications were stopped because state funds of one billion euros had been exhausted. Specifically, it was about the new building promotion for the efficiency house (EH) 40. The second stage in a concept of the federal government started today at KfW. This is about new construction funding in the “EH40 Sustainability” program, which provides for more demanding conditions.

Third stage next year

A third stage is then planned from January 2023 – under the title “Climate-friendly construction”. According to the ministry, the program should focus even more on greenhouse gas emissions from buildings. The federal government is currently working on exactly how it will be designed.

The FDP construction expert Daniel Föst called on the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Construction to provide reliable funding. The abrupt end of the KfW new building subsidy is no surprise, said Föst: “But it is always a disappointment – especially for the people who rescheduled after the sudden stop in January and waited weeks for the subsidy to resume.” The fact that new funding criteria are now in effect is the opposite of planning security.

“Don’t put obstacles in people’s way”

According to Föst, people wanted to build according to high energy standards. “Politicians must therefore not put obstacles in the way of these people, but must support them. If we are serious about these goals, the Minister for Construction, Klara Geywitz, and the Minister for Economic Affairs, Robert Habeck, urgently need to ensure that funding is reliable and open to all technologies.”

The energy and climate policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Andreas Jung, criticized that energy efficiency was the “fifth wheel” in traffic light climate policy. “Instead of giving way and accelerating, the traffic light principle is “stop and go”. The Union demands clarity and reliability for those who want to build eco-houses or ecologically renovate their old houses. “Right now, the traffic light should promote funding with the highest priority. But after people’s trust was damaged by the abrupt halt to KfW funding, they are now being disappointed again.”

dpa

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