Berlin It should be a little easier for families to buy an apartment or a house. Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz has confirmed that she intends to start promoting home ownership for families on June 1st. “We want to make increasing numbers out of the minus in single-family houses,” said the SPD politician on Tuesday, referring to the meager balance of completed apartments last year.
However, home ownership is only an option for families with a taxable income of up to 60,000 euros per year. Each additional child increases the threshold by 10,000 euros.
For the first time, Geywitz named the amount of credit that households could borrow from the state development bank KfW at a reduced interest rate. “Households with children can take out a loan of between EUR 140,000 and EUR 240,000, depending on the number of underage children and the standard with which they are building,” said the minister. Interest rates are the biggest concern for families who are about to build. “That’s why our program makes interest rates cheaper.”
The federal government will pay a total of 1.1 billion euros from the climate and transformation fund for new construction funding this year. With a share of 350 million euros, property promotion for families is rather low.
And the conditions are high: Anyone who builds a climate-friendly and energy-efficient building or buys a new building for the first time receives funding. In any case, the building must meet the energy standard of an efficiency house 40 (EH40). Anyone who also builds according to the specifications of the Sustainable Building Quality Seal (QNG-Plus) will receive higher funding.
750 million euros in the form of low-interest loans are available for the “Climate-friendly New Construction” (KFN) funding program. This program started on March 1st.
>> Read here: KfW new construction funding – These are the new conditions
In addition to companies, private individuals have also been able to apply here, but the maximum loan amount is 150,000 euros. The Haus & Grund owners’ association said at the time: “The federal government’s planned new construction subsidy will not solve the housing problem and, above all, will bypass private builders.” The subsidy pot is “much too small, and private individuals also have to work with professional investors and the public sector split”.
The funds would be called “above average,” said Geywitz on Tuesday. She promised that the program would “remain fully funded as planned until the end of the year”. There was initially no talk of an increase.
criticism from the opposition
On January 1, 2023, responsibility for the promotion of new construction was transferred from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to the Ministry of Construction. The Economics Ministry led by Robert Habeck (Greens) is still responsible for the inventory and renovation of existing buildings. Around 13 billion euros are made available for this every year.
Criticism of the planned family support came from the opposition. The construction policy spokesman for the Union parliamentary group, Jan-Marco Luczak, told the Handelsblatt: “Virtually nothing is being implemented of the noble promises in the coalition agreement on more property formation.” small in size and structurally wrong”.
He continued: “It is already foreseeable that it will be a big disappointment, because only those who meet the highest energy standards receive funding.” Building something like this “costs a lot of money”. At the same time, families should only have a maximum household income of 60,000 euros. That doesn’t go together. “I assume that only a few families can get financing for such an expensive house,” he explained. “The funding program will come to nothing.”
At the same time, the purchase of existing properties is no longer encouraged, emphasized Luczak. “As a result, in cities and metropolitan areas where property is built almost exclusively in existing buildings, no funding is actually granted anymore.” This also has negative consequences in rural areas. The focus on new construction leads to the village centers becoming deserted because it is then more attractive to designate new development areas on the outskirts of the village.
For comparison: According to KfW, around 2.6 billion euros were paid out to families in 2020 for the now discontinued Baukindergeld. The purchase of new buildings and existing buildings was promoted here. The upper income limit was EUR 90,000 for one child and EUR 105,000 for two children. A non-repayable grant of 1,200 euros per child and year was then granted over a period of ten years.
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