Housing industry: Real estate giant Vonovia wants to build 3,000 new apartments

Germany’s largest apartment landlord Vonovia is returning to growth after two years of austerity measures. In 2025, Vonovia wants to restart its new construction program, which has been on hold for two years, as the listed company announced when presenting its nine-month figures. “By the end of 2025 we will start construction projects for 3,000 new apartments, for example in Berlin, Vienna and Salzburg,” it said.

Vonovia wants to reduce construction costs, for example by eliminating underground parking spaces and increasing the proportion of mass-produced houses. Overall, the company sees potential for 70,000 new apartments in Germany and Austria.

2,400 new apartments have been completed so far this year

Vonovia did not start any new construction projects in 2023 and 2024 and justified this with high inflation and increased interest rates. However, projects that had been started were continued. 2,400 apartments were completed in the first nine months of 2024.

Vonovia announced an increase in investments. Vonovia is planning around 1.2 billion euros in 2025 for, among other things, energy-saving renovations, low-barrier conversions and new construction projects – after around 900 million euros in the current year. By 2028, annual investments are expected to increase to up to two billion euros.

Vonovia boss Buch: “Almost all apartments are rented”

Company boss Rolf Buch expressed satisfaction with the progress of the financial year so far. “Our core business is doing excellently, almost all of our apartments are rented,” he said. The key company figures developed as expected and the company will achieve all of its targets for the current year at the upper end of expectations. The Board of Directors is confidently looking ahead to 2025 and the following years. Adjusted pre-tax profit from January to September amounted to 1.36 billion euros, four percent less than in the same period last year.

The company continues to benefit from high demand for affordable housing in metropolitan areas. The rent rose to an average of 7.94 euros per square meter in the first nine months – 3.5 percent more than a year earlier. In Germany, the average monthly rent at Vonovia at the end of September was 7.81 euros per square meter. Vonovia manages a total of almost 542,000 of its own apartments in Germany, Sweden and Austria, of which 481,000 are in Germany.