Real Estate & Construction / Luxembourg
Housing gap of up to 6,000 homes: Top construction firm
Luxembourg's top construction firm, Félix Giorgetti, says need for affordable housing in the Grand Duchy is immediate.
Design for an apartment complex by Félix Giorgetti
Housing prices continued to climb in 2017, rising 7.7% to an average price of €6,000 per square meter for an apartment, comparable to the Netherlands market. New supply is immediately needed, or more people will be forced to commute from neighboring countries, warns Marc Giorgetti, managing director of Félix Giorgetti, Luxembourg’s largest construction firm.
“Insufficient affordable housing options mean that over 200,000 workers have to commute every day to come and work in Luxembourg,” Giorgetti says, adding that there is a current lack of 5,000 to 6,000 homes in the country. “Luxembourg’s population is growing by about 12,000 inhabitants each year, widening the housing gap,” he explains.
Luxembourg’s need to fill the housing gap, combined with more government spending for infrastructure, is likely to satiate construction investors, believes Giorgetti. Yet, cost stability depends on cheaper foreign labor, and Giorgetti warns that with 18,000 laborers now active, Luxembourg is “at the maximum limit” of foreign construction workers it can utilize. “Constructions workers in Luxembourg have increased from 12,000 to 18,000 people,” he remarks.
With an annual turnover of €450 million, Félix Giorgetti has been involved in many projects for residential and commercial housing, such as Ferrero International’s new international headquarters. The company was also behind the Luxembourg Airport cargo center expansion, and the new Bettembourg-Dudelange intermodal logistics terminal, which was the country’s largest project to be built by one prime contractor.
