Study: scarcely new apartments in metropolitan regions anymore
In German metropolitan regions, it is predicted in a study by Deutsche Bank Research that there will soon be hardly any new construction projects for single-family homes. Reasons are the lack of space and the significantly increased costs, which have made single-family homes unaffordable for many households. In order to meet the simultaneously high housing space demand in urban areas, the trend towards large multi-family houses and relatively small apartments will continue.
The analysts of the bank expect that new single-family homes will primarily be built in smaller communities in the future. Nationwide, around 20,000 to 40,000 completions of single-family homes per year are expected. The statistical low point was marked by the year 2009 with 84,000 completed single-family homes. In the past two years, under the impression of higher interest rates, higher construction costs, and heating regulation, fewer than 100,000 single-family homes were built nationwide each year.
According to the study, there are also energy balance reasons against single-family homes. In addition to the lower space and material requirements, apartments in large multi-family houses consume only half as much energy for operation as those in semi-detached houses. The energy requirement and thus also the CO2 emissions in detached houses are even twice as high. Cities and municipalities are increasingly concerned about further sealing of areas.
The number of around 16.3 million single-family homes in Germany has hardly grown in recent years and, according to the study, will soon stagnate and then decline. At the same time, the single-family home remains a popular housing form, which indicates that prices and rents in existing real estate will continue to rise.
Despite the predicted decline in new single-family home construction in metropolitan regions, some households may still aspire to own their own homes. Interestingly, the study suggests that energy consumption and CO2 emissions are significantly lower in apartments within large multi-family houses compared to single-family homes.
