Immobilienmarkt: Baugenehmigungen steigen - deutliches Plus seit Jahresbeginn

Wiesbaden: After years of struggle, the German housing market appears to be showing signs of recovery. In July, 22,500 apartments were approved, a 1.9 percent increase compared to the same month last year, according to the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden. This continues the upward trend from the first half of the year, when approvals surged by nearly 15 percent, the largest increase for a first half since 2016.

Building permits are a key indicator for the fight against housing shortages and rising rents. From January to July, 148,800 approvals were issued for new and existing buildings, just 13 percent or 17,000 more than the previous year. In newly constructed residential complexes, 121,200 apartments were approved (up 13.5 percent). The number of approvals for single-family homes increased nearly 10 percent to 27,900.

For semi-detached houses, the number of approved apartments fell 25 percent to 8,900. For multi-family dwellings, the most numerically significant type, authorities approved 79,700 new residential units, about 15 percent more than the previous year. The Ifo Institute recently observed a better business climate in the housing market.

"Companies are increasingly seeing light at the end of the tunnel," said the institute. "The rising building permits are a hopeful sign that the order situation will improve in the coming months." The renewed rise in building permits is a positive sign, as usually it precedes an increase in housing construction, said Sebastian Dullien, a senior researcher at the Institute for Macroeconomics and Macroeconomic Research at the Hans-Böckler Foundation.

However, higher energy costs and higher construction loan rates are expected to dampen the growth. "Higher interest rates make housing construction less affordable, and this is expected to lead to a slowdown in building permits."