The construction industry is suffering from the current economic situation. The president of the industry association now paints a bleak picture of sales in the industry in a forecast. Things looked much better at the beginning of the year.
The German construction industry expects falling revenues. The President of the Main Association of the German Construction Industry, Peter Hübner, told the editorial network Germany: “We consider a real decline in sales of five percent to be realistic.” At the beginning of the year, the industry had expected an increase of 1.5 percent for the year. According to the Federal Statistical Office, in August 2022 sales in the main construction trades fell by 5.1 percent compared to the same month last year.
Although the industry is still doing well at the moment, Hübner fears for the future that “builders will run out of money.” This fear is also underlined by other figures. In August 2022, for example, 15.6 percent fewer orders were received compared to the same month last year.
In addition, the high costs and uncertain planning are a burden on the projects. The Federal Statistical Office announced in mid-October that the number of permits for new residential construction fell sharply last August.
Accordingly, the number of new construction projects fell by 9.4 percent compared to the previous year. According to the Federal Statistical Office, this is the fourth decline in a row and at the same time the strongest since November 2021.
Tim-Oliver Müller, General Manager of the German Construction Industry Association (HDB), sees the declining figures as an “expression of the extreme uncertainty of public and private housing builders.”
For Felix Leiss, researcher at the IFO Institute for Economic Research, another factor plays a decisive role in the development: “Construction costs continue to rise. For some builders, all this is no longer feasible, they cancel projects or pull the ripcord completely. “
