Half-year balance of building permits
With regard to the building permit figures for June 2026 and the first half of the year published today by the Federal Statistical Office, the German Real Estate Association IVD continues to see an urgent need for political action. In June, 21,600 apartments were approved, 13.8 percent more than in the same month last year. In the first half of the year, a total of 126,300 apartments were approved. That was 15.1 percent more than in the first half of 2025.
IVD President Dirk Wohltorf explains:
“The slightly increasing number of permits is like a slightly higher level after a long drought: pleasing, but far from the all-clear. Residential construction continues to run low water. Of the approved apartments, an ever-decreasing proportion is actually being built. We are threatened with a new low in completions this year.
Relief in triple steps is not sufficient in this situation. The construction turbo has hardly been felt so far, building type E is still a long time coming and the announced reform of new construction subsidies is not to come until 2027. All this is taking too long and is not reaching people as a powerful signal for more housing construction. At the same time, renting will continue to be regulated. However, anyone who is considering building today needs the confidence that this decision will still be viable tomorrow.
Even with the announced pact for ownership, it is still unclear how this will result in concrete relief. Three out of four Germans would like to own their own home. If the state simultaneously demands a real estate transfer tax that costs several months’ salary, this is a contradiction. People must feel: Now it is worthwhile to create housing again, and politicians are behind it. The reform of new construction subsidies must therefore be brought forward, burdens must be reduced. We now need strong impetus so that more permits finally turn into more apartments built again.”
