Residential building permits up 4.9% in Germany in April
Residential
building permits in Germany
were up 4.9% in April, the second month of gains in construction planning amid a tentative economic recovery and as
Berlin
prepares to cut red tape in construction.
Federal Statistical Office data showed on Wednesday that 18,500 permits for new apartments and houses were granted in April, up 900 from a year prior. The gain in March was 5.8%, or 1100 permits.
During the January-to-April period, permits were up 3.7% compared with a year earlier.
Germany
's property sector is tentatively recovering from its most severe slump in decades which began in 2022.
Permits are an important indicator of construction activity over quarters to come.
Hamburg Commercial Bank's chief economist, Cyrus de la Rubia, cautioned that construction must speed up further to plug a residential building shortage that the previous federal government did not manage to mitigate.
"If this weak pace in building permits continues, we will have to deal with the housing shortage still for some time to come," he said.
Frustrated by a persistent lack of hundreds of thousands of housing units due to high costs and red tape, the German government is expected to agree on a range of measures later on Wednesday to cut construction regulation.
The cabinet is eyeing a bigger say for municipalities in land-use plans to encourage new-home construction, conversions, extensions and adding floors to blocks of flats.
The German economy is expected to grow this year following two consecutive years of contraction, four economic institutes said on Thursday, raising their forecasts for 2025 and 2026.
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