The number of residential building permits in Germany remained well below target in July, with only 17,000 new homes authorized.
That is 19.2% fewer than in the same month a year ago, the Federal Statistical Office said on Wednesday.
This means the decrease was slightly greater than in June, when authorizations fell 19% year-on-year.
In the first seven months of this year, the number of permits for 123,600 new homes was 20.8% below the same period last year.
The federal government aims to have 400,000 new homes authorized per year.
The decline remained strongest for single-family houses: from January to July, there were 22,100 building permits, 28.4% fewer than in the first seven months of last year.
High construction costs and expensive financing are blamed for choking the supply of new housing.
