The number of building permits for new apartments in 2021 was higher than it has been for 23 years.
The authorities gave the green light for the construction of 380,914 apartments - an increase of 3.3 percent or 12,325 compared to 2020. "More approved apartments in one year were last seen in 1998 with 437,084," said the Federal Statistical Office on Thursday.
The traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP wants to build 400,000 apartments per year and simplify the building permit and planning processes.
It has been a problem for a long time that more buildings are approved than are actually built.
The building associations HDB and ZDB expect around 320,000 apartments to be completed this year, after around 310,000 last year.
In 2020 alone, however, the number of building permits was almost 369,000.
This so-called construction overhang has been increasing for years, the statistical office confirmed.
In this context, politicians complain about speculation with land.
Accordingly, building permits are often only applied for in order to then be able to sell the land at a higher price, said Berlin Senator for Urban Development Andreas Geisel.
The number of building permits issued nationwide last year rose by 0.9 percent for single-family houses and by 2.2 percent for multi-family houses.
There was a sharp increase of more than a quarter in the case of two-family houses.
This is likely to be partly due to the expiry of the Baukindergeld in the first quarter of 2021, according to the Federal Office.
On the other hand, this can also be attributed to the end of the promotion of houses with energy efficiency level 55.
Only for dormitories were fewer building permits issued than in the same period of the previous year (minus 26.6 percent).
Meanwhile, the Deutsche Bundesbank is warning of price exaggerations on the real estate market, which have intensified over the past year.
In German cities, residential real estate prices in 2021 would now be between 15 and 40 percent above the justified level.