Real estate: More apartments approved – high plus for single -family houses

Hope for the troubled housing in Germany: After a long decline, the number of building permits increases again. In January, 18,000 apartments were approved by the authorities – 6.9 percent or 1,200 more than in the same month, as the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden announced.

This increased the number of building permits for the second time in a row after there was already a good 5 percent of the previous year in December. However, the growth of low levels come from: “Previously, the number of apartments approved for the construction had fallen consistently compared to the respective month of the previous year,” said the statisticians.

In January, the number of building permits for single -family houses rose particularly strongly by a fifth (21.7 percent). There was an increase of 5.8 percent for the strongest type of building, the apartment building. In contrast, a decline of over ten percent was recorded in the permits for two -family houses.

Recovery of the lowest level since 2010

The figures of the Federal Statistical Office contain both building permits for apartments in new buildings and conversions. With regard to the lack of housing in cities, the permits are an important indicator: what is not approved is not built later. In 2024, the number of building permits fell by almost 17 percent to 215,900 – the lowest status since 2010.

Building interest rates rise with a view of debt package

Housing has been in the crisis in the face of increased interest rates and high construction costs. In the meantime, construction interest rates had fallen, which had boosted the demand from consumers after construction finance. However, the planned, hundreds of billions of euros from Union, SPD and Greens have recently provided a rapid increase in the capital market interest rates – in the course of this, the construction interest also climbed again.