Trends in housing construction can have a stabilising effect on the gross national product. Additionally, the Austrian system of grant schemes acts as a control on demand. In order to cover housing needs, housing grants schemes should be given a new drift in the medium run through the introduction of new programmes that act as controlling instruments. In this, more emphasis should be given to the provision of social housing. Furthermore, innovations should be attempted in the residential infrastructure and in residential services. A key role will be assigned to a suitable response to our ageing society, e.g., by adapting housing promotion schemes to the elderly or by putting greater emphasis on barrier-free construction (as is provided for in the government programme), and to the ecological challenges.