German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government said it was shelving proposed building regulations yesterday as part of a 45 billion euro ($47bn) relief package to prop up a construction industry stricken by high interest rates and rising costs.
Berlin will make 18bn euros available until 2027 for affordable housing, with the rest of the funding coming from federal states and municipalities.
The government has also put on indefinite hold plans to require more stringent building insulation standards, an effort to help prop up the ailing building industry.
Abolition of the insulation standards has been a top demand of industry, which says the measures are too expensive.
“We must massively expand activities in housing construction,” Scholz said ahead of talks between the building industry and government leaders to address a major slump in the sector. “We need more affordable housing.”
Scholz also backed the European Central Bank (ECB) raising interest rates to fight inflation, but said that such moves were also inhibiting housing construction.
&uuid=(email))