Es is a number from another time. When Olaf Scholz promised 400,000 new apartments a year as SPD chancellor candidate in May last year, the interest rate for mortgage loans with a ten-year fixed interest rate was below one percent and the inflation rate in Germany was 2.5 percent. At the end of November, when the new building target was reflected in the negotiated coalition agreement, inflation had risen significantly, but loans were still cheap. Blessed is the one who was already ready to build at the time. Since then, prices have skyrocketed to such an extent that it takes a great deal of endurance to build today.
Mortgage interest rates are now well over 3 percent. For private builders, this means a monthly additional burden of several hundred euros, real estate companies with multi-family house projects are confronted with correspondingly higher sums. In addition to rising interest payments, there are additional costs resulting from disrupted supply chains and rising energy prices. Solid structural timber up 77 percent, roof battens up 65 percent, welded wire mesh up 53 percent: there was a steep increase last year. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the shortages have become even worse.
