Verena Hubertz: Boosting Affordable Housing with Prefab and Land Rights
Build costs slated for significant drop
Get ready to see a change in the housing market, thanks to Verena Hubertz, Germany's new Federal Minister of Housing! She's got big plans to make building more economical, and we're talking some serious savings here.
In an interview with "Bild am Sonntag", the SPD politician boldly declared her intention to slash building costs by fifty percent. How's she planning to pull this off? Well, she's banking on more prefabricated products. Think about it: instead of building walls on-site, why not do it at a factory and save a ton of cash? According to Hubertz, you could knock off 30 to 40 percent of construction costs per square meter just by prefabbing. So, that 5,000 euro price tag per square meter? You might be looking at a more manageable 2,500 to 3,000 euros instead. And she's not done yet. Hubertz is convinced that they can save even more by considering financing costs as a whole.
But the savings don't stop at the construction phase. Hubertz is also aiming to curb increasing land costs. She's looking into hereditary building rights, which could be a game-changer. Instead of one quick fix, she's examining the entire lifecycle of a building and its cost drivers.
When it comes to the yearly target of 400,000 new apartments, Hubertz took a more flexible approach. She pointed out that this target wasn't set in the coalition agreement, suggesting a dynamic approach to match the rapidly changing world. Last year, they managed to build around 250,000 apartments, and Hubertz isn't satisfied with that. She's happy to see building permits picking up again, but there's still work to be done to get out of this slump.
In addition to these initiatives, Hubertz has introduced a "construction turbo" for her first 100 days in office. This includes streamlining approval procedures to speed up construction timelines. She's also promoting modern construction techniques and considering rent control measures and expanding land availability to further reduce costs and boost housing construction.
However, specific plans related to prefabricated walls and hereditary building rights are not explicitly detailed in the available information. But with Hubertz's ambitious plan to make housing more affordable, we're excited to see what the future holds!
Sources: ntv.de, rog/dpa
- Verena Hubertz
- Construction Industry
- Housing Construction
Community policy should include measures to support and encourage the implementation of prefabricated construction methods in the housing industry to lower construction costs, potentially by 30 to 40 percent per square meter. Employment policy should also address the finance and business implications of promoting prefabrication, aiming to reduce financing costs as a whole and make affordable housing more accessible.
