diff --git a/nominatim/db/sqlalchemy_functions.py b/nominatim/db/sqlalchemy_functions.py
index f88c801e..6eed8803 100644
--- a/nominatim/db/sqlalchemy_functions.py
+++ b/nominatim/db/sqlalchemy_functions.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 """
 Custom functions and expressions for SQLAlchemy.
 """
+from __future__ import annotations
 from typing import Any
 
 import sqlalchemy as sa
diff --git a/nominatim/db/sqlalchemy_types.py b/nominatim/db/sqlalchemy_types.py
index 8e8cc9c8..4171d70b 100644
--- a/nominatim/db/sqlalchemy_types.py
+++ b/nominatim/db/sqlalchemy_types.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 """
 Custom types for SQLAlchemy.
 """
+from __future__ import annotations
 from typing import Callable, Any, cast
 import sys