BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - The FDP wants to allow lower standards to boost housing construction and avert new state requirements for very economical buildings. Ahead of Monday's "housing summit," liberal building experts Carina Konrad and Daniel Fost on Friday opposed the EH40 new-build standard agreed in the coalition agreement of the traffic light for 2025. This lowers energy demand and climate gas emissions, but increases construction costs.

"For a sustainable and affordable housing market, we don't need more regulation, but more market economy," Konrad and Fost shared. They also took aim at plans to slow the rise in costs for renters. "Instead of tinkering politically with rental prices, we need to simplify construction. More supply through simplified construction leads to lower rents and purchase prices." They explicitly backed plans by Construction Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD) for simpler and faster construction.

The two FDP deputies demand that building standards be limited to "hazard prevention" and also that a "building class experiment" be introduced. A position paper states: "Subject to compliance with certain minimum requirements and quality assurance, it should be possible within this building class to plan and build with reduced standards. Accordingly, this would be linked to a change in "liability for material defects in the law on contracts for work and services, but also in purchase, rental and liability law."

Because of high interest rates and high construction costs, less is currently being built. The German government wants to discuss countermeasures at a "housing construction summit" on Monday. However, the important industry associations Bundesverband deutscher Wohnungs- und Immobilienunternehmen (GdW) and Haus & Grund have canceled their participation in protest against the traffic light policy./vsr/maa/DP/stw