Urgent housing construction in the Ostalbkreis: 1,300 new apartments needed per year!

Urgent housing construction in the Ostalbkreis: 1,300 new apartments needed per year!

What is happening in the Ostalbkreis when it comes to housing construction? The situation is quite tense in view of declining building permits and increasing living space requirements. Rem newspaper informs that the Federal Ministry of Construction has set an ambitious target of 400,000 new apartments per year in 2022. However, the reality is different: in 2022, 354,000 apartments were approved, but in 2023 this number fell to just 294,000.

Something is also happening in Baden-Württemberg - permits fell from 50,083 in 2022 to 35,481 in 2023 and further to 26,969 in 2024. The statistics continue to show that in the Ostalbkreis the actual building permits were 811 for 2023 and only 508 for 2022. This results in a clear need for action, especially in view of the increasing number of residents in the district - from 310,733 in 2010 to 317,427 in 2022, which makes the urgent situation on the housing market even clearer.

The challenges in housing construction

Despite the alarming figures, the East Württemberg Chamber of Industry and Commerce sees potential: It is convinced that the targeted 1,300 new apartments per year can be achieved provided the planning and construction capacities are used correctly. Swabian Post points out that the ownership rate in Ostalbkreis is 59.8 percent, but permits for single-family and two-family homes are declining sharply - by 53 percent in the first half of 2025!

A main problem also arises with the requirements for new buildings: If you want to finance a terraced house, you need a net household income of at least 5,000 euros per month. A possible solution would be state building loans with long-term low interest rates to lower this hurdle. Economist Matthias Günther emphasizes that an interest rate of 1.5 percent would reduce the necessary income to 3,100 euros net.

Current developments in housing construction

Unfortunately, getting to the apartment is not that easy. In April 2025, 18,500 new apartments were approved in Germany, which corresponds to an increase of 4.9 percent compared to the previous year. Destatis reports that single-family homes increased by 15.4 percent, while the number of approved two-family homes fell by 9.7 percent.

The complexity of the situation is increased by the trend towards increasing construction and financing costs as well as long approval times. The pressure on the housing market is enormous, especially in cities like Ellwangen, Gmünd and Aalen. In order to meet the challenges, the “Housing Now!” initiative was launched. launched, which aims to improve the framework conditions for housing construction.

On the positive side, there are ongoing projects, such as the Fehrle Gardens with 147 residential units and the Neues Wohnen Sonnenhügel project with 73 units, which bring hope for an improvement in the situation. It remains to be seen how requirements will develop after 2030, but the need for new and modernized living space will undoubtedly continue to exist.