Planning permissions for new construction from January to September 2025 compared with the same period of the previous year:
- +14.2% for residential buildings overall
- +17.4% for detached houses
- -2.8% for semi-detached houses
- +13.0% for blocks of flats
Construction of 24,400 homes was approved in Germany in September 2025. According to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), this was 59.8% or 9,100 more planning permissions than in September 2024. The large increase can be explained in part by the fact that the 15,300 homes approved in September 2024 represented the lowest monthly figure since January 2012. The number of homes approved in new buildings rose by 80.1% or 9,300 year on year in September 2025, to 20,900. The number of homes approved through the conversion of existing buildings fell by 4.9% or 180 year on year in September 2025, to 3,500.
January to September 2025: upward trend in detached houses continues
Construction of 175,600 homes in new and existing buildings was approved in Germany between January and September 2025. This was 11.7% or 18,400 homes more than between January and September 2024.
A total of 142,600 homes were approved in new residential buildings between January and September 2025, 14.2% or 17,800 more new homes than in the same period of the previous year. Planning permissions for detached houses rose by 17.4% (+4,900) to 33,300. The number of homes approved in semi-detached houses fell by 2.8% (-270) to 9,500. In blocks of flats, the building type accounting for the largest number, building supervisory authorities approved 93,100 new homes. This was an increase of 13.0% (+10,700) compared with the same period of the previous year. The number of homes approved in residential halls increased by 55.9% (+2,400) year on year to 6,700.
A total of 3,100 homes were approved in new non-residential buildings between January and September 2025 (-14.5%; -520). These include, for example, caretaker flats in school buildings or homes above commercial premises in city centres.
A total of 29,900 homes were approved as conversion measures in existing residential and non-residential buildings between January and September 2025, 3.9% or 1,100 homes more than in the same period of 2024.
Calls for modern planning and building regulations
“It is encouraging that growth is now also apparent in blocks of flats, which are particularly important for housing construction,” says Aygül Özkan, Chief Executive of the German Property Federation (ZIA). “The current figures are an encouraging development,” Özkan continues. “Following the ‘Construction Turbo’ and the resumption of EH55 funding, the reform programme must now continue. Current planning law under the Building Code is outdated. We need modern planning and building regulations that further accelerate housing construction and make it affordable. This is the only way to achieve the urgently needed momentum.”
“Appearances are deceptive”
Dirk Wohltorf, President of the German Property Federation (IVD), explains: “Appearances are deceptive: approved does not mean completed in Germany. Despite the slight increase in planning permissions, we remain in a trough of historically low housing completions. For housing construction finally to get moving again, the Construction Turbo must now shift from political marketing into implementation mode. The law can make it significantly easier to mobilise land, but only if local authorities and districts actually use the new scope it provides.
We need precisely this two-pronged approach. First, local authorities must use the Construction Turbo to create the necessary building land and enable densification of the existing stock. Second, private capital must be channelled specifically into housing construction. The Germany Fund approved by the coalition committee a few days ago is intended to bring several areas of the future under one umbrella. It is therefore all the more incomprehensible that housing construction has not yet been included, even though the coalition agreement expressly provides for a fund to mobilise private capital for housing construction. This instrument must be included in the Germany Fund, because housing construction is just as central to society’s future as energy and digitalisation.”