Coalition agreement 2025: Housing construction on the move

In the coalition agreement, the CDU/CSU and SPD have agreed comprehensive reform plans in the area of housing construction. The aim is to speed up construction processes, strengthen housing construction, modernize technical specifications and promote climate protection in the building sector. Funding instruments are to be restructured and geared towards current challenges.

Reform of the building code in two steps

A central concern of the coalition partners is the comprehensive reform of the Building Code. A draft bill for a so-called “housing construction turbo” is to be presented in the first 100 days of the new government. This envisages lowering planning law hurdles and speeding up approval procedures. Among other things, noise protection regulations are to be simplified. At the same time, municipal planning sovereignty is to be preserved.

In a second step, the coalition partners are planning a fundamental amendment to the Building Code, which is intended to achieve a permanent structural acceleration of construction projects. Among other things, the right of first refusal for local authorities is to be strengthened. TA Lärm, building planning law and TA Luft are to be further developed in order to resolve conflicts of use between residential, commercial and agricultural areas. Building type E, a type of construction with functionally simplified standards, is to be legally secured and enable uncomplicated and cost-effective residential construction.

Simplification of technical rules and standards

In addition to the changes to planning law, there are also plans for comprehensive relief in the area of technical specifications. In future, a deviation from the recognized rules of technology will no longer automatically be considered a defect, provided that the safety and usability of a building are still guaranteed. This should create more scope for innovative solutions and serial construction methods. It remains to be seen how this will be implemented in practice and what standard will apply to the definition of defects under construction contract law in future.

The binding effect of technical standards, for example from the DIN area, should be reviewed and reduced to safety-relevant aspects. An independent review body is to assess the economic impact of new standards and thus identify unnecessary cost drivers. The aim is to reduce bureaucracy in planning and construction processes without jeopardizing structural quality.

Serial, modular and systemic construction for more speed

The coalition partners have clearly identified serial, modular and systemic construction as a key strategy for accelerating residential construction. The aim is to create faster, more cost-efficient, sustainable and comprehensive living space through industrial prefabrication. The plan is to legally secure this construction method and make it easier to regulate.

Climate and environmental protection in construction

The building sector should make a relevant contribution to achieving the climate targets. The current legal regulations are to be fundamentally revised: The Heating Act is to be abolished and the new GEG is to be designed to be more open to technology, more flexible and simpler. Scope for implementing the European Buildings Directive (EPBD) is to be exploited. A new law is to be created that no longer focuses on the short-term efficiency of individual measures, but on the long-term emission efficiency of the entire building system. Achievable CO2 avoidance is to become the central control parameter.

The coalition partners also want to launch two national action plans for bio-based building materials and for energy-intensive materials with high CO₂ savings potential. The Substitute Building Materials Ordinance is to be revised and supplemented by an end-of-waste regulation. The use of recycled building materials is to be facilitated.

The CDU/CSU and SPD also want to support the digitalization of the construction industry through the further development of Building Information Modeling (BIM) as a standard instrument. In addition, a federal research center for climate-neutral and resource-efficient construction is to be established.

Funding and financing

The existing promotional structure in the area of residential construction is to be fundamentally reorganized. In future, two centrally bundled KfW programmes are to be available – one for new construction and one for modernization. These programs are to be administratively simplified and strategically geared towards cost-saving, climate-friendly and serial construction.

In order to reactivate construction projects, the coalition partners want to make the promotion of the Efficiency House Standard 55 (EH55) possible again for a limited period of time.

A number of supplementary measures are planned to promote home ownership. These include tax relief, equity-replacing instruments and state guarantees for mortgages to help families and young households in particular to buy their own home.

An investment fund for housing construction is to combine additional private capital with public guarantees and be made available specifically for new construction projects. Municipal housing associations are to be supported through equity-relieving measures.

The Bundesanstalt für Immobilienaufgaben (BImA) is to have limited borrowing capacity in future.

Conclusion

With a combination of legal relief, technical flexibility, targeted funding and ecological control, a framework is being created to accelerate sustainable investment in affordable, climate-friendly housing. Both public and private developers can expect better conditions for planning, financing and implementation in the coming years. In order for this political breakthrough to have an impact in practice, rapid and binding implementation of the announced measures is now crucial.