Building permits for housing continue to decline

Each year sees between 5,000 and 8,000 people move to Leipzig, making it the fastest growing metropolis in Germany. These arrivals see a matching increase in demand for housing – a signal for the construction industry, in view of the vacancy rate of 3.5 percent. However, it is not only Leipzig that is seeing a stagnation in the number of building permits for new housing. As Spiegel online reports, quoting figures of the Federal Statistical Office, the first two months of 2019 saw 0.1 percent fewer building permits granted Germany-wide than in the same period the preceding year – a total of just 49,350. This decline has been underway since 2016. Whilst in their coalition agreement the governing parties agreed to build around 1.5 million homes by 2021 (375,000 per year), the Federal real estate trade body Bundesverband der privaten Immobilienwirtschaft (BFW) says that only 250,000 new homes are expected to be built in 2019. The reasons for this are the lack of building plots and professionals, but also bureaucratic obstacles. This nationwide problem can also be seen here. Only around 1,500 new homes are completed annually in Leipzig. Although the city has unveiled an ambitious funding programme, housing construction remains static, despite the current population increase. At a forum of Deutsche Bank in December leading Leipzig businesspeople called in the mayor to deliver a “major solution” to the problem. IKS Holding echoes this appeal. We are prepared to create modern, high-quality housing in Leipzig to satisfy the ongoing population growth and the demand on the real estate market. Our current projects are examples of how we can realise this.