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On her summer tour, Federal Construction Minister Klara Geywitz announces when new credit concessions for affordable and climate-friendly construction will be introduced.
Koblenz/Trier – The new KfW funding programme “Climate-friendly new construction in the low-price segment” (KNN) will start in October this year. This was explained by Klara Geywitz (SPD), Federal Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Construction on her summer trip to Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. The amount of funding, however, is still unclear.
Cheap KfW loans for new construction
The program of the state-owned Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) was announced some time ago and approved by the Bundestag’s budget committee in July. The KNN program is intended to make new buildings in the lower and middle price segments more attractive through low-interest loans. In addition to the funding of “Climate-Friendly New Buildings” (KFN) and “Home Ownership for Families” (WEF), which has been running since 2023, the KNN funding is the third pillar with which Construction Minister Geywitz wants to boost the declining housing construction.
Although the budget committee approved the start of the KNN in July, an exact date had not yet been set. At a meeting with serial construction entrepreneurs on her summer trip, Geywitz revealed that the first funds would be released in October, without giving any further details on the exact amount. A total of EUR 2 billion has been earmarked for the funding programme by 2025parliamentarians from the Budget Committee approved an initial amount of 350 million euros last month.
Klara Geywitz (SPD), Federal Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Construction, announced on her summer trip that home builders can soon expect new KfW loans for inexpensive and climate-friendly new construction. © IMAGO/Thomas Trutschel
Geywitz said: “Many people earn too much to be able to live in a subsidized apartment and at the same time too little to be able to afford high rents on the free market,” said the Minister of Construction, adding: “For those who are looking for a new apartment, the construction of affordable housing is now being particularly subsidized.”
Construction Minister Geywitz wants to streamline building regulations
This is good news for future home builders and those who are thinking about it. Anyone who wants to build in a climate-friendly but still affordable way is eligible for the low-cost loan. This should also not be tied to the strict energy efficiency standard EH40, as was originally planned.
Iris Schöberl, President of the Central Real Estate Committee (ZIA), welcomes the KNN program. “This stimulates construction. This creates affordable housing again,” said the association president. Schöberl also supports the move away from the EH40 standard. “This means that the entire life cycle of the material, from cradle to grave, is considered here – regardless of the material – and is included in the CO₂ balance of a building.”
During her stays in the west of the country, Geywitz spoke to many building contractors and made it clear that she wants to streamline the excessive regulations in construction, which have long been criticized by the industry. This includes abolishing the link between funding and the EH40 standard, and the SPD minister also emphasized that the framework conditions must be made easier, especially for serial construction.
