BERLIN, April 18 -- Germany's housing crisis persists, with an 18.3 percent year-on-year decrease in residential building permits for February, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) said on Thursday.

The downward trend in recent years continues, with only 18,200 apartments granted building permits in February. Destatis reports show a significant 35.1-percent decline compared to the same month in 2022.

"There seems to be no end to this downward spiral," remarked Felix Pakleppa, chief executive of the German Construction Confederation (ZDB), a leading association of the country's construction industry. He described the situation as tragic.

According to Tim-Oliver Mueller, chief executive of the Federation of the German Construction Industry, Germany has consistently fallen short of its official housing construction targets, with limited expectations for improvement this year. Only slightly more than half of the announced 400,000 apartments are expected to be realized, he added.

Mueller stresses the need for necessary measures, such as interest rate reduction programs and reduced bureaucracy, to cut construction costs significantly.

In response to the recognized problem, the German government has announced substantial investments in social housing. As part of a recently introduced growth package, 5 percent of the investment for new buildings can be written off for six years.

New measures also include reducing interest rates for single-family homes and for converting commercial properties into residential space.

Additionally, the Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building budget has more than doubled compared to 2021, reaching 10.4 billion euros (11.1 U.S. dollars).

Despite government efforts, the housing industry warns of a growing shortage of new houses. According to the German Property Federation (ZIA), there is a gap of 600,000 apartments, projected to rise to 830,000 by 2027 without remedial measures.

"It cannot go on like this," ZIA president Andreas Mattner emphasized on Thursday, referring to the continued slump in building permits. He urged an immediate halt to the downward spiral. (1 euro = 1.07 U.S. dollar)

  - Xinhua