At the start of the second half of the year, significantly fewer apartments were approved in Germany. Demand for single-family homes in particular remains weak.
The number of building permits in Germany continues to fall well short of targets. In July, 17,000 new apartments were approved, 19.2 percent fewer than in the same month last year, according to the Federal Statistical Office. This means that the decrease was even slightly greater than in June (19 percent). In the first seven months of this year, the number of building permits was 123,600 apartments, 20.8 percent lower than in the same period last year.
The federal government had wanted to make 400,000 new apartments possible each year.
The decline was most pronounced in single-family homes: 22,100 building permits were issued between January and July, 28.4 percent fewer than in the first seven months of last year. High construction costs and expensive financing are putting pressure on demand.
Source: Stern
