Overview
- The deficit is concentrated almost entirely in low-cost and social units, with young people, retirees and people with disabilities identified as the most affected groups.
- Closing the gap would require about 400,000 new homes per year, yet projections point to only around 200,000 completions annually in the coming years.
- Regional shortfalls are greatest in North Rhine-Westphalia (~376,000), Bavaria (~233,000) and Baden-Württemberg (~196,000), with Berlin (~56,000), Hamburg (~23,000) and Bremen (~13,000) also heavily affected.
- The study faults delayed federal payments for social housing—disbursed over five years—for forcing states to pre-finance projects and slowing construction starts.
- The Bündnis Soziales Wohnen urges doubling the social housing stock to at least two million units, warning the shortage is constraining economic growth and could rise toward 2.4 million by 2030.