Germany’s construction industry federation says the collapse of the German government means urgent project decisions will be postponed by at least six months, heaping further pressure on the already beleaguered sector.
Hauptverband der Deutschen Bauindustrie gives little hope for a recovery in activity in the near term. Only once a new government is in place will the agenda for residential construction become clear.
Performance in the year so far has not made for pleasant reading. “Looking at the first three quarters of the year, the summary is a bitter one,” the federation notes in its latest statement on residential construction.
Approvals for new-building of houses and apartments in the first nine months of the year were 20% below the figure of the corresponding 2023 period, according to latest data from the federal statistics office. For September, it gives the number of 15,300 approvals, and that includes conversions of existing housing space in addition to new buildings.
Federation managing director Tim-Oliver Müller notes the demands issued to policymakers are not primarily for financial incentives, but for a radical reduction in the regulations that impair construction activity and drive up costs.
The concerns are echoed by suppliers to the construction sector, such as rebar benders. “This year we have a fraction of the activity of the year before,” one German rebar bender manager tells Kallanish. “And we have to fiercely compete for every job.”
Christian Koehl Germany
