According to Chancellor Scholz, it is not high interest rates that are the cause of the lack of living space, but rather too little building land. In addition, apartments would be built that no one needs. Instead, new districts would have to be created – like 50 years ago.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called for a radical rethinking of construction policy. The problem for the sluggish construction industry at the moment is not the high interest rates, but rather, among other things, a lack of building land and the construction of unneeded apartments, said Scholz at a newspaper event “Heilbronn voice”.
“For all of Germany you can say: We probably need 20 new districts in the most popular cities and regions – like in the 1970s,” emphasized the SPD politician. Building on so-called greenfield sites has not been wanted in recent years, but it is necessary, he said, with a view to the need for housing and the growing population. “Therefore, a rethinking of this issue must take place,” demanded the Chancellor. There also needs to be a political agreement to make more building land available and to allow taller buildings where this has been prevented.
Scholz: “The right apartments weren’t planned”
Scholz also indicated that the federal government could make even more money available for subsidized housing construction. “So if we get rid of the 18 billion euros for subsidized housing that we have made available, we will definitely see whether we can pack in even more,” he said. But the funds would have to flow out first. Scholz pointed out that there was a backlog of hundreds of thousands of building permits, but that the number of new buildings was still declining.
The Chancellor also pointed out that the federal government had already provided many incentives for cheaper construction with agreements on serial construction, reduction of bureaucracy and better depreciation options. He accused some investors of speculating. “The right apartments were not planned,” criticized Scholz, pointing out that far too many high-priced apartments had been built. He doesn’t mind if people want to pay 9,000 to 11,000 euros per square meter when buying or 18 to 21 euros per square meter when renting. But the question is how many people can do this. The core is to build apartments that are actually needed.
Housing industry hopes for serial construction
The leading association of the housing industry GDW – like the federal government – has great hope in serial construction. This means that large components are prefabricated and only have to be assembled on site. Association President Axel Gedaschko can imagine that this could be a solution to the current housing crisis – especially after the federal and state governments agreed last week to accelerate and standardize planning procedures.
“Especially for our companies, the agonizingly long process time that was otherwise there is money that is being lost,” said Gedaschko in an interview with ARD capital studio. The longer a building permit takes, the later construction work can start and the longer it takes until a company can collect rent, says Gedaschko.
The main association of the German construction industry sees a way out of the housing construction crisis primarily in state-subsidized loans. This could encourage investors to build more apartments again. Some companies still have order backlogs for six months, others for a year, said Managing Director Tim-Oliver Müller in an interview with ARD capital studio: “Housing construction can be compared to a tanker that is still moving. The engine is already off, but we don’t know when it will stop.” Müller estimates that residential construction will come to a standstill by 2025 at the latest.
With information from Oliver Neuroth, ARD capital studio