Where the most building is still going on now

Rising financing, construction and energy costs have led to a nationwide construction freeze on renovations, modernisations and new buildings. Nevertheless, construction is taking place in Germany. The current GeoMap analysis has examined the cities with the most ongoing construction projects in August 2023. 

According to this, Berlin leads the list with 637 construction projects, most of which are new buildings. Munich is close behind with 448 construction projects, followed by Hamburg with 429 projects. Leipzig takes fourth place with 250 construction projects and Frankfurt am Main fifth with 181.

"The current situation in the construction and real estate industry is undoubtedly challenging, with declining incoming orders and thus expected falling sales," comments Marco Hoffmann, founder of Leipzig-based Real Estate Pilot AG, which develops and operates online applications for the real estate industry. "The lack of affordable housing in many cities further exacerbates the situation, and the German government's housing construction targets for the coming years are likely to be difficult to achieve," says Hoffmann.

"The results of the current GeoMap analysis confirm that activities are still ongoing in the construction sector. However, most of these are projects that have already been started in recent years (...). Financed projects are still being implemented, but we are observing restraint in the case of properties in the planning stage due to sluggish sales," Hoffmann continues. 

Federal Construction Minister Geywitz (SPD) plans tax relief to boost housing construction through tax incentives. The plan is to temporarily extend the tax depreciation options for new buildings from next year until 2030. The depreciation is to amount to seven per cent of the construction costs in the first four years after completion, currently it is three per cent.

Further incentives for housing construction could be favourable financing options, building cost subsidies, the reduction of fees and the reduction of land tax on first-time purchases. 

(Photo / Graphic: © GeoMap)