German residential experts are warning that excessive bureaucracy is blocking the construction of new homes at a time when the coronavirus crisis has already hit the sector hard. “The planning and construction acceleration law must finally come,” said Andreas Schichel, spokesman of the Federal Association of German Housing and Real Estate Companies. He said that this would be the fastest way to fix the backlog of construction that has been building up. At the moment, the country’s need for 320,000 new homes to be built each year is not being met, with just 293,000 having been completed in 2019. The same is true for the construction of new affordable rental apartments. Last year, just 78,000 were built, compared to the 140,000 that are needed, he warned.
