Germany still suffers lack of new housing

German is still suffering from a lack of new housing, despite the completion of 277,700 apartments last year, according to Germany’s Federal Statistical Office (Bundesamt).

Construction figures were released by the Bundesamt last week. They show that the construction of apartments, which is up 12% on 2015, looks encouraging at first glance but the number belies the number of apartments actually needed. Between December 2011 and December 2015, the number of inhabitants in Germany rose by 1.8%, according to the Bundesamt and the Cologne Institute for Economic Research (IW). And although population growth is expected to slow, big cities such as Frankfurt and Berlin are still in dire need of more housing to accommodate the increasing number of students and workers who are enticed by better career prospects.

‘The real analysis of building completions last year is extremely sobering,’ said Andreas Ibel, president of the Bundesverband Freier Immobilien und Wohnungsunternehmen (BFW). ‘We remain a long way off the 400,000 apartments needed.’

Apartment blocks accounted for the biggest increase in overall numbers, adding 10% more new stock y-o-y, or 10,100 apartments. Hostels/halls of residence witnessed the biggest jump in percentage terms, jumping 59.3% or 5,300 units, many of which are being occupied by refugees. However, if hostels are removed from the equation, the number of new residential units increased by just 6.6% last year, according to the BFW.

It doesn’t stop there, according to Ibel, who says that 60% of BFW members believe that the environment for new development has worsened in the past year. ‘That has led us to conclude that in the next few years, more than 300,000 units are unlikely to be built. In the medium term, it might even be less than 250,000 units.’

Ibel had a warning message for German politicians in the lead-up to the federal election in September. ‘The political parties must take concrete action in their election manifestos and come up with stimuli to boost new construction.’