The Ministry of Construction had made available 800 million euros to push forward construction projects that had been approved but had not yet begun. After a slow start, the funding has now almost been used up.
Berlin. Since December 2025, Verena Hubertz's (SPD) Federal Building Ministry has funded 50,000 apartments, which are primarily intended to reduce the construction backlog. The construction backlog includes approved but not yet completed projects.
According to the Federal Ministry of Construction, around 69 million euros remain of the original funding amount of 800 million euros. Hubertz viewed the funding commitments as a “strong signal” for housing construction. The minister made it clear on Wednesday that there were no longer any plans to increase funding.
“Behind this number are projects that had long been approved but were not implemented,” said the SPD politician on Wednesday. “My appeal to all builders: Anyone who has an approved project in the drawer should act quickly now.”
Before the start of the “EH55-Plus funding”, Hubertz spoke in an interview with the Handelsblatt about a nationwide construction backlog of around 760,000 apartments. The SPD politician assumed at the time that the money would be enough for a “high five-digit number” of apartments. This would not be achieved as things currently stand.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, the construction backlog amounted to 760,700 apartments at the end of 2025. However, 307,200 of these apartments were already under construction.
At first it was a slow process
EH55-Plus houses are houses that use 55 percent of the energy of a standard house and in which the heat is supplied entirely with renewable energy. Fossil fuels such as gas and oil are therefore excluded. At best, they are still used via eligible district heating.
Due to the ongoing construction crisis, many construction projects were stopped. According to the Federal Statistical Office, only 206,600 apartments were completed last year. That was the lowest value since 2012. Compared to the previous year, there were 18 percent or 45,400 fewer apartments.
The funding began on December 16, 2025 and was originally scheduled to expire at the end of June. The federal government made a one-off amount of 800 million euros available for the low-interest loans from the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW). At first interest was moderate. In mid-April there was still 550 million euros in the budget. That's why the term was extended. The interest rate had also been reduced.
Experts attributed the fact that the program initially ran slowly to the requirements for energy efficiency, the uncertainty about the interest rate, the capped loan of 150,000 euros per apartment and difficult application conditions. A valid building permit must be available at the time of application. However, the construction project must not have started yet.
New funding system in preparation
The federal government is currently working on a new funding system. In the future there should only be two funding pillars, one for new construction and one for renovations. Hubertz had announced the concept for 2026, but it is still pending.
On Wednesday, the Construction Minister announced interest rate improvements in the “Home Ownership for Families” (WEF) funding program, which is aimed at families and single parents with at least one child who want to build in a climate-friendly way. The efficiency house level to be achieved is 40. The maximum loan amount is 270,000 euros.
The conditions have been “significantly” improved, said Hubertz. “Over a term of 35 years and with a ten-year fixed interest rate, the effective interest rate is now one percent.” According to KfW, the interest rate was previously 1.17 percent.
