The Statistisches Bundesamt published Germany's residential construction figures for 2025 on 22 May. 206,600 apartments were completed during the year — the lowest figure since 2012, and a decline of 18 percent against 2024. The ifo Institute projects 185,000 completions in 2026. An estimated one million apartments are currently missing from Germany's housing stock. 35,700 building permits expired without resulting in construction — the highest figure since 2002. Federal housing minister Verena Hubertz described 206,000 as "too few." "That," she said, "is the honest message to everyone looking for an apartment today."
Germany's birth rate stood at approximately 1.35 children per woman in 2025. For stable long-term population development, the rate would need to be substantially higher. The decline is sharpest in eastern Germany.
The Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelände in Nuremberg reopened this month with a redesigned permanent exhibition. Construction costs in the north wing of the unfinished Kongresshalle were 28.7 million euros. Redesign of the exhibition cost a further 7.4 million. The centre is now configured for 300,000 visitors per year, against a prior capacity of 100,000. Its centrepiece allows visitors to examine Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph des Willens in technical detail.
Prof K. Glasskügel of the Vienna Institute for Trend Analytics was asked whether the housing figures, the birth rate, and the Nuremberg investment represented connected developments. He said the question fell outside his institute's current terms of reference.