Scholz: Germany urgently needs more affordable housing

Germany urgently needs more affordable housing, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday ahead of the start of a crisis meeting with the construction industry in Berlin.

A key instrument for this could be serial construction, he said. Once a house has been approved, it can be built in other districts without new bureaucratic procedures, which would make building cheaper and faster, Scholz stressed.

The prerequisites should now be created in cooperation with the states, the chancellor added.

Housing Minister Klara Geywitz emphasised that the government's 14-point programme would change a lot and bring new possibilities.

"More people will be able to buy a house, existing or new, with our new funding," she said. In the medium term, there will be more housing and more affordable rents, she added.