Destatis Reports a Boom in Housing Construction in Germany

The German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) in Wiesbaden, reported recently that building licences were granted for 375,400 flats in Germany last year, the largest recorded result in the last 17 years. The number of flats approved in 2016 was therefore around a fifth (21.6 percent) or 66,700 granted building licences more than in 2015. These figures confirm that the positive development that has been in place since 2009 is continuing. In fact, the number of flats approved last year was the highest since the considerably larger number of 440,800 building licences granted back in 1999. The strongest growth in 2016 was recorded in the category of newly constructed flats in blocks of flats, which achieved an increase of 26.6 percent or 36,500 flats. The number of approved flats in semi-detached houses increased by 13.2 percent, while the number of approved flats in detached houses remained unchanged in comparison with last year’s results.