Anyone who is currently interested in a new apartment or would like to finance a new house should check the property of their desire once again – and then hurry up if possible. Because the state is letting the funding for the so-called “Efficiency House 55” expire, and pretty soon: the state bank KfW will only accept applications for promotional loans including repayment or investment subsidies for such properties until the end of January. Later there is only money for the more demanding standards in the “Efficiency House 40”. For them it stays with the significantly higher funding.
Real estate is one of the most important areas if Germany wants to achieve its climate protection goals. The Federal Republic of Germany is supposed to be climate neutral by 2045, according to the stricter Climate Protection Act. If the almost 20 million residential buildings in the country alone do not quickly become significantly more economical, that will not be possible. The goals in this area are correspondingly ambitious: the building sector emitted around 120 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2018; by 2030, the value is expected to be just over half as high at 67 million tonnes. So much to do in a relatively short time.
In order to achieve the target, the new one wasn’t until the summer Federal funding for efficient buildings (BEG) entered into force. Now the rules have been adjusted again, the Federal Ministry of Economics changed them, largely unnoticed by the public, a few days ago. In the future, this should allow as much money as possible to flow to where a lot can still be achieved comparatively cheaply: when renovating existing buildings. So far, things have been going far too slowly there, say experts. Currently, only just under one percent of the buildings are being energetically renovated every year, but at least twice as much is necessary. Newly built efficiency houses 55 should therefore no longer be fundedthat they have “largely established themselves” as the standard. Because of the rising energy costs, such buildings are now often the most economical, even without any money from the state.
Promotion in demand
However, this does not mean that the funding has so far not been taken with pleasure: It was not until September that the federal government decided to increase the funds made available by 11.5 billion to 18 billion euros – only for this year. A record. According to KfW, around half of this money goes into new buildings, and by far the largest part of this goes into the various subsidies for the Efficiency House 55. Last year, the proportion was even higher. At that time, KfW granted a total of 21.3 billion euros in subsidized loans for new buildings as part of the “Energy Efficient Building” program, more than three quarters of which for the Efficiency House 55.
The real estate industry reacted sharply to the end: The announcement by the Ministry of Economic Affairs was “completely incomprehensible and unsocial,” said the President of the Central Association of Housing and Real Estate Companies (GdW), Axel Gedaschko. Politicians must accompany the climate goals with sufficient funding, especially in view of the target of 400,000 new apartments per year issued by a possible traffic light coalition. The new funding requirements, however, would “act as a brake on construction”.
Interhyp, the largest German mortgage broker, believes it is possible that more customers will be requesting KfW loans in the short term. “We expect that builders and buyers who have planned to finance an efficiency house 55 may now prefer to apply,” said the board member responsible, Mirjam Mohr. Especially when they are well on their way with planning or want to buy a new building for which the efficiency class has already been determined.
Consumer advocates, on the other hand, see a completely different problem with KfW loans: Many banks have absolutely no interest in informing their customers about the funding. They preferred to hand out their own, unsubsidized loans, which is more lucrative than the agency commission from KfW. There are many who do not even know that they can receive funding from the state. At least the savings banks, with their public mandate, should be obliged to offer KfW loans, for example, Niels Nauhauser of the Baden-Württemberg consumer center demands.