Overview
- Germany’s statistics office said Friday that 22,200 homes were approved in February, up 24.1% from a year earlier, with 19,000 of them in new builds.
- Approvals for January–February reached 41,700, a 16.2% rise, with broad gains across single-family, two-family and multi-family projects.
- The main construction lobby said high costs, strict rules and bureaucracy still block groundbreakings, and it urged easier financing and tax relief to turn approvals into building.
- The Ifo institute reported weaker housing-construction sentiment in March as the Iran war pushed up fuel and energy prices that could lift borrowing costs and raise building expenses.
- Destatis cautioned the monthly figures can be revised because late reports arrive after March, and permits serve as an early signal rather than a guarantee of future starts.