Missing apartments: What has the “construction turbo” achieved so far?

Far too few apartments are being built in Germany. The federal government is trying to counteract this - for example with the "construction turbo", which has been in effect for a year. What has the law achieved so far? From Axel

Lack of living space What the “construction turbo” has brought so far As of: October 30, 2026 • 8:55 a.m

"The construction situation hasn't really improved. We continue to see great reluctance among private customers and investors." That's what Klaus Rohletter, CEO of Albert Weil AG in Limburg with around 950 employees, says. The company is planning construction projects in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate - including residential properties.

It's been a year since the Federal Council passed the so-called "construction turbo". Rohletter believes the law is a “step in the right direction, but there is still much more to come.” He knows the industry well: about the work in his company, but also as President of the Rhineland-Palatinate Construction Industry.

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The “Construction Turbo” is officially called the “Law to Accelerate Housing Construction and Secure Housing.” The aim is to create residential properties much more quickly. The municipalities must then examine the projects within three months. If no decision is made, the project is considered approved.

Less strict administrative requirements also apply. In addition, office or commercial buildings can be more easily converted into living space. But: The law is voluntary. The community can take it over - or not.

"This is a major weakness. Every municipality decides differently. This patchwork hinders and slows down our planning because there is no uniform and therefore simplified procedure," says Rohletter.

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For the building contractor, the abundance of regulations is one of the causes of construction failure. "The cost of land has risen sharply. Ten years ago a square meter cost around 100 euros, now it is 300 euros. The reason is that there are always new regulations and evidence requested by the authorities."

Added to this are the costs for the property, which would have roughly doubled in the same period. “The material costs have increased. Take sand and gravel, for example: it is becoming increasingly difficult to mine these raw materials due to environmental legislation in this country,” says Rohletter. "The result is fewer extraction pits, which in turn lengthens transport routes and increases costs again."

High energy prices and rising CO2 taxes would also be added, says Rohletter. "All in all, even high earners can hardly afford their own house or apartment - and if at all, it's much smaller."

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At the start of the “construction turbo” in autumn 2025, Construction Minister Verena Hubertz celebrated herself: In a self-made video, the Social Democrat sat beaming with joy on a park bench in front of the Bundestag and applauded herself.

After a year, however, the response from the real estate industry is less enthusiastic. Building permits have increased significantly - by up to twelve percent. However, analysts tend to attribute this to lower building interest rates in the first half of the year.

In addition, many construction projects have been approved but have not yet started or been completed. The main reason is the continued high costs and the fact that the “construction turbo” is not legally binding: many municipalities fear for their planning sovereignty and do not implement the law for themselves.

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Felix Pakleppa also draws a line in Berlin after a year. He has a good overview of the current construction projects from all over Germany; he is the general manager of the Central Association of the German Construction Industry (ZDB): "There are positive individual cases such as in Munich, Hamburg and smaller municipalities. Many projects have been approved there in a short period of time. We cannot yet determine this across the board."

The “construction turbo” was also the right decision for Pakleppa. "But overall it doesn't make building cheaper or easier. The catch is that the law is voluntary."

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At the beginning of the week it became known that the draft law for simpler construction is now available - the so-called building type E. This has been debated for five years. After much back and forth, the coalition has now reached an agreement.

Except for safety requirements, numerous regulations can be deviated from in order to make construction easier and cheaper. This includes, for example, a certain number of sockets in a room, high ceilings or particularly thick windows and walls for sound insulation. However, these exceptions should not be decided by the federal government, but by the federal states.

The result is likely to be that there are many different standards again. “That won’t be enough to build enough apartments either. Instead, better, reduced-interest funding is needed - for example from the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau,” says Pakleppa. Families in particular can be helped in this way. "If we look at the state elections of the past few months, the issue of housing has become the social issue. Politicians should respond to this with a package of measures."

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Klaus Rohletter also has a few ideas to improve the situation in construction: for example, halving the property transfer tax or a lower income tax if the money is invested in residential real estate. "The new draft law on building type E also goes in the right direction. But according to the current proposal from the ministry, it is again not a binding standard. That is not enough."

According to the entrepreneur, individual measures cannot trigger a turnaround in construction. "The overall economic mood is a big problem. Stagnation does not trigger investment sentiment."

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Rohletter observes that this mood is being further depressed by the Berlin debates about expropriations. "Many investors are now asking themselves: 'Is this coming to other federal states soon? Can I invest today and in a few years it might be expropriated?'"

The consequential damage of this debate in Berlin for the entire country cannot yet be estimated. "Instead, the framework conditions for investors must be improved, then construction will begin again. Expropriations have no place in a free-market, democratic system."