Tensions in the building materials market are beginning to impact on the affordable housing sector. Prices will rise and delivery times will increase. A shortage of building materials has been observed.

This was to be feared. The onset of a shortage of building materials is worrying the affordable housing industry. The price of steel has soared and is becoming scarce. A situation that is expected to last at least until the end of the year, according to experts. But other materials are also under pressure, such as concrete, wood, thermoplastics and insulation.

Logically, construction companies are passing on these increases. And delivery times are getting longer.

Since the only margin they make is to finance their operating costs, affordable housing actors have no choice but to pass on the increase in construction costs. This does not, of course, apply to signed quotes.

Already increases of 200 €/m²

For new projects, however, the situation is different. Guy Entringer, director of the Snhbm (Société Nationale des Habitations à Bon Marché) cites the example of a 32-unit housing site in Belvaux where the price per m² has already risen by 200 euros. There remains the possibility of modifying certain projects by choosing other materials or by reviewing certain plans? But “this will never be to the detriment of the quality sold to our clients”, assures the manager.

And what about the properties for which work has begun? Delivery times will be extended. However, at this stage, “it is impossible to give an estimate of the potential delay”, notes Dirk Kintzinger, Deputy Director of the Housing Fund.

For the government and local authorities, who were banking on affordable housing to help the middle classes become homeowners, this is a bad blow. And for the households concerned too! But in the meantime, in an increasingly tight property market in the Grand Duchy (prices rose by 14.5% in 2020), the private market seems less affected.
Construction costs are proportionally more relative than those of land and the margins of developers and agencies…(by emilie Di Vincenzo June 2021 CHAMBRE IMMOBILIERE)