Number of the month: 5

Renewable energies are becoming increasingly important in the real estate sector. This is also confirmed by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) in its press release of September 8, 2022. Only about one in five residential properties that received a building permit in the first half of 2022 is heated with gas as its primary energy source.

According to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) , a total of approximately 60,200 residential properties were approved in the first half of 2022. Compared to the first half of the year, the number of residential buildings primarily heated with gas decreased by almost 9 percent. Only one in five approved residential buildings was planned without the use of renewable energy. Approximately 73.7 percent used renewable energy as their primary energy source. In the first half of 2019, this figure was just 49.9 percent. Heat pumps, in particular, are being installed more frequently due to government subsidies.

Renewable energy sources are also being used more and more frequently for hot water preparation. From January to November 2021, this applied to 68.9 percent of all approved apartments ( Destatis press release of February 16, 2022 ). Only 24.4 percent of these were gas heating systems.

In addition to heat pumps, geothermal energy, and ambient heat pumps, demand for pellet heating systems for apartments and houses has also increased. From March to July 2022 alone, 700,300 wood-burning stoves, predominantly from China (62.4%), were imported into Germany. Due to this increased demand, prices for wood pellets and firewood rose by more than 80% in August of this year compared to the same month last year ( Destatis press release of September 22, 2022 ). Increased transport and procurement costs in the timber industry are also contributing to this price development.

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