The time-limited funding dedicated to the EH55 energy standard is reportedly only attracting moderate interest from investors. Regarding the current subsidy program, the Federal Ministry of Construction advised the Handelsblatt that by April 13th, approximately 23,400 residential units had received subsidies, backed by a combined credit and grant volume of about 2.3 billion euros. According to a spokesperson, approximately 553 million euros remain available in the funding pool.
The KfW program was established in mid-December 2025 with the goal of advancing approved but unstarted construction projects, and it is scheduled to run until the end of June 2026. Overall, the federal government has provided 800 million euros in subsidies. To stimulate demand, the program features an effectively reduced interest rate of one percent, structured on a ten-year term, a ten-year interest rate lock, and two initial interest-only years.
However, critics, notably the Union party, are calling for changes to the established conditions. Jan-Marco Luczak, the construction policy spokesperson for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, stated that the subsidy program is proceeding “far too slowly because the Federal Ministry of Finance sets overly strict funding requirements”. He noted that developers are excluded from subsidies if they have already cleared a site or felled trees. Luczak argued that such restrictions prevent the activation of the existing construction backlog, emphasizing the necessity of implementing a more flexible solution.