8.4% rise in German home building permits

German home building permits rose by 24,000 units to 309,000 last year, the first time the number of permits has breached the 300,000 mark since 2000, according to Destatis, Germany's Federal Statistics Office.

The growth in residential building permits, a trend started in 2009, was mainly driven by an 8.1% increase in single-family home permits. Permits for multi-family homes rose by 6.9% compared to 2014 and those for semi-detached homes by 5.3%. Permits for apartments in shared accommodation rose by 12.5%, following a 31.1% rise in 2014.

Commercial real estate permits for new development rose by 1.2% to 118.9m cu.m. in total inner space volume, driven solely by a 1.3% rise in private sector demand. Public sector building permits fell by 0.2%. Most activity was registered for hotel and gastronomy permits, which gained 18.4%, and retail and storage buildings – with a 6% gain. Factory and workshop permits fell most steeply, by 9.6% on the previous year, followed by agricultural ones, down 7.5%.

"The dynamic in the issuing of permits is positive, but it's simply not enough", said Axel Gedaschko, the president of the Association of German Housing Associations GdW. His group is demanding a range of new government measures to facilitate the building of more affordable housing, particularly in view of Germany's huge new immigrant numbers.

The GdW says Germany has a deficit of 800,000 dwellings, meaning that at least 400,000 units need to be built annually through 2020 – about 140,000 more each year than German will manage this year. This includes 80,000 social housing units, as well as 60,000 in the 'affordable' housing segment.