Report to Society 2025

Social

Housing and property

New concepts for affordable housing

Affordable housing is a scarce commodity in Germany. The costs of renting or buying a home represent a significant and growing burden for many people. Creating affordable housing is therefore a key challenge for the future, as it makes a decisive contribution to quality of life, social inclusion, and the vitality and diversity of local communities and regions.

The German savings banks play a key role in this regard. With a market share of 35 per cent, the Landesbausparkassen – the building societies of the savings banks – are, on the one hand, the largest providers of housing finance in Germany and, even in the current market situation, enable many people to become homeowners. Furthermore, many savings banks are themselves involved as responsible developers in new-build projects. These are often characterised by high-quality workmanship and resource-efficient, energy-efficient construction methods. Moreover, they are always tailored to regional needs and designed to cater for as wide a range of people as possible, with varying financial circumstances.

35% market share
make Germany’s Landesbausparkassen the country’s largest housing finance provider.

A recent example of this is a new-build project by Savings Bank Bodensee: in Kressbronn, 15 km east of Friedrichshafen, six residential blocks with a total of 80 rental flats are being built in the new Bachtobel development, featuring green flat roofs and photovoltaic systems. Many of the flats are designed to be accessible or have low barriers to access, whilst some are specifically earmarked for subsidised housing. The project is also a fine example of regional economic development: the majority of the companies and tradespeople involved in the construction and interior fit-out of the residential buildings are based in the bank’s catchment area or the immediate vicinity. “As a savings bank with deep roots in the Lake Constance region, it is not only important to us to create housing here, but we also want to keep the value added within the region, which is why we give preference to local firms when awarding construction contracts,” emphasises Lothar Mayer, CEO of the savings bank.

The active promotion and implementation of new-build projects is an important step towards addressing the shortage of affordable housing. At the same time, however, innovative ideas are also needed to enable cost-effective and efficient construction on a large scale, in order to boost housing construction in Germany in the long term. A concept currently being implemented by GWH Wohnungsgesellschaft in Hesse demonstrates how this can be achieved.

GWH, a subsidiary of Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen, has introduced the ‘GWH-HessenHaus’ there. These are multi-occupancy blocks in which certain standardised specifications are taken into account as early as the preliminary planning stage, thereby saving costs. For example, the HessenHaus eliminates the need for costly civil engineering works, as it does not feature a basement. Instead, storage spaces and storage areas are cleverly integrated into the residential floors. Furthermore, the ceiling height and the ratio of the building envelope to living space have been optimised to allow for thinner floor slabs. This enables construction that is material-efficient yet high-quality and energy-efficient.

For local authority developers in particular, the GWH HessenHaus thus offers a model for creating urgently needed housing in a way that saves time and money whilst maintaining high quality. The first HessenHäuser are currently being built in Hesse itself. Following a successful market launch, GWH has further developed its concept and is now rolling it out to the neighbouring state. This means that, in future, local authorities and investors in Thuringia will also be able to benefit from this cost-optimised standardised building concept.