BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Ahead of the planned "housing summit" this Monday in the Chancellor's Office, the mood in the housing and real estate industry is conceivably bad. Industry associations attribute the fact that hardly any new and affordable living space is currently being created primarily to federal policy, which places an undue burden on project developers and owners. They feel that their concerns and demands are not being taken seriously by the federal government. The Federal Association of German Housing and Real Estate Companies (GdW) and the owners' association Haus & Grund therefore cancelled their attendance at the meeting on Monday without further ado.

"At the moment, the situation is fatal for existing owners," said GdW President Axel Gedaschko. "But we see that this mixed situation is simply not recognized in the government." The GdW will therefore not participate in the meeting on Monday. The cancellation was also joined by the owners' association Haus & Grund. "We will also not participate in the housing summit," said association president Kai Warnecke. "Citizens are no longer in a position to form home ownership," he criticized. "Yet nothing is being done about it."

A "clear political commitment to more home ownership" was also called for by the Savings Banks and Giro Association (DSGV). "This must be backed up as quickly as possible with realistic demand programs," said e association president Helmut Schleweis. "We are running out of time here."

So far issued demand programs went past the needs of the building responsible persons. The KfW program for interest-reduced credits for building for families had been requested only somewhat more than 200 times after three months, criticized the DSGV, the GdW as well as house & reason equally. The interest subsidies also came much too late, emphasized GdW President Gedaschko. He also called for a reduction in the sales tax on construction projects from 19 to 7 percent.

The alarm mood is also reflected in the real estate sentiment index of the Central Real Estate Committee (ZIA) and the Institute of the German Economy (IW Koln). "A collapse in the business situation among project developers by 35 points to just -54.5 is a very serious warning sign," informed the ZIA based on the latest economic survey by IW Koln. "The fact that, in addition, an even worse situation is expected by the majority for the next twelve months heralds a standstill in new construction." The "housing summit" must now show whether politicians have understood the seriousness of the situation.

Warnecke and Gedaschko referred, among other things, to the recently passed heating law, which places an excessive burden on landlords and makes affordable housing offers impossible. "The mood of our companies is underground, and our companies no longer understand why Berlin's politicians are not taking countermeasures," Gedaschko said. He also said it was incomprehensible why the German government was still sticking to its target of around 400,000 newly built apartments in the current year.

In order to stimulate the lame housing construction, the FDP wants to make lower standards possible and avert new state specifications for very economical buildings. The Liberals' construction experts, Carina Konrad and Daniel Fost, opposed the EH40 new-build standard agreed for 2025 in the coalition agreement of the traffic light alliance. This reduces 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.

Sharply increased financing and construction costs have significantly slowed down new construction in Germany. A few days ago, for example, the real estate group Vonovia reported that tens of thousands of planned construction projects were currently on hold. According to an analysis by the mortgage broker Interhyp, citizens are also currently burying their dream of owning their own home in droves./vsr/maa/DP/stw