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Building permits in Hamburg: record growth despite housing shortage!
Altona is recording increasing building permits in Hamburg. Around 893 new apartments approved, but demand remains high.
Building permits in Hamburg: record growth despite housing shortage!
Housing construction has received a breath of fresh air in Hamburg! Until the end of October 2025, in the Hanseatic city almost 20 percent more building permits granted than in the previous year. More specifically, 4,748 permits were issued, which is less than half of the Senate's target of 10,000. A bright spot is the Wandsbek district, which accounts for the highest proportion with 1,624 approved apartments. Eimsbüttel (886), Hamburg-Mitte (725) and Altona (509) are also well represented. Interestingly, the Hafencity remained without any approved construction projects this year.
Compared to the same period last year, Hamburg recorded 750 additional approved apartments, which corresponds to a respectable increase of 19 percent. However, the director of the Association of North German Housing Companies (VNW), Andreas Breitner, urges us to hurry: “We still have a long way to go to defuse the tense housing situation in Hamburg.” There is a shortage of hundreds of thousands of apartments in Germany - so it remains a major task to pick up and effectively combat the housing shortage.
Social housing on the rise
A particularly pleasing detail is the increase in social housing. 2024 were 3,092 social housing units approved, which is the highest number in the last five years. Almost half of the 6,710 units approved this year were publicly funded. The total number of apartments approved since 2011 now stands at a remarkable 138,932. In the past twelve months, the number of approved residential units rose by 1,306 – an increase of 24.2 percent.
If we look at the breakdown of approved residential units in 2024, the following picture emerges:
| district | Approved housing units |
|---|---|
| Wandsbek | 1,952 |
| Hamburg center | 1,274 |
| Altona | 893 |
| Hamburg North | 1,179 |
| Eimsbüttel | 605 |
| Bergedorf | 194 |
| Harburg | 544 |
| Reserved areas | 69 |
The focus is on construction quality
The new one is particularly interesting Hamburg standard, which promotes more cost-effective construction with thinner ceilings and walls and no underground parking spaces. This could help reduce construction costs and therefore create more living space. One example is the new building project in Billstedt, where there is a lack of building plots. There will be one hereInitiative for cost-reduced constructionlaunched, initially in the Wilhelmsburg town hall district.
In summary, it can be seen that housing construction in Hamburg has gained momentum, but the challenge remains to sustainably meet the growing demand for living space. Because of the tense situation, politics and the industry must work even more closely together. The course has been set – now it’s time to get to work quickly!