New Kirchberg development to house 7,000 people

Luxembourg’s EU and financial hub in Kirchberg is set to undergo further expansion with a new development which will house 7,000 people, the government's urbanisation fund, Fond Kirchberg, said on Wednesday.

The development, called Kuebebierg, will be built on a 330,000 square metre plot with more than 3,100 flats and a main square the size of Place Guillaume in the centre of the capital, where the city’s town hall stands.

The urban fund will invest €77 million in the development, it said in a statement, between now and 2037.

The site, overlooking the forest at the far end of Kirchberg and a short distance from the Kinepolis cinema complex, will include shops, restaurants, cafés and an area for sports.

“The 7,000 residents will all have a view of the forest from their apartment,” architect Mathis Güller said in the statement.

The project will also include government-supported affordable housing, which has been a focus in the Kirchberg area over recent years as the country faces a major housing crisis.

Housing prices have been increasing steadily over the past decade and reached a 17% year-on-year rise last year. The cost of real estate in the country almost doubled in the decade between 2010 and 2020, according to figures released by Eurostat, the EU's official statistics agency, two years ago.

A shortage of land which can be built on is a huge contributor to Luxembourg’s expensive housing market. In 2020-2021, private owners – whether a private individual or a legal entity – owned 84% of the total constructible land, according to a study by the Observatoire de l’Habitat, which carries out housing research for the government.

Close to 50 land owners collectively own a quarter of Luxembourg’s housing plots– the equivalent of nearly 190 international rugby fields, the Housing Ministry said last month.

Some of the biggest landowners include property developers Arend & Fischbach, the City of Luxembourg commune and construction firm Groupe Giorgetti, owning more than 50 hectares each, similar in size to 10 rugby fields.

A total of 12 private individuals, several communes, the Red Cross non-profit organisation, firms such as ArcelorMittal and Cactus, and a religious group all own more than five hectares each, the ministry's report shows.

Since the start of the pandemic, people have been looking for bigger homes and searching outside the capital, real estate developer JLL said last month. People also want to move immediately and do not want to wait for new-builds to be constructed, resulting in the price of existing flats “going through the roof”.