Monday, October 25, 2021
Order high in August
Construction industry has full order books
German construction companies landed significantly more contracts in August than before. In the construction industry, they rose by 7.3 percent compared to the previous month of July. However, materials are still scarce.
Despite the sharp rise in construction prices, the German construction industry received a large number of orders in August. The value of the orders was 18.9 percent higher than in the same month last year. If you adjust this value for calendar effects and the sharp price increases, there is still a real plus of 5.7 percent. Compared to July 2021, orders rose by 7.3 percent.
That was the second increase in a row and at the same time the second strongest increase this year. In the first eight months of this year, orders grew by 1.5 percent compared to the previous year, adjusted for price. Incoming orders in August totaled around 7.8 billion euros. “With that the incoming orders reached the highest value ever recorded in an August in Germany,” it said.
Materials are still rare
However, the ongoing shortage of materials continues to slow the company down, said the general manager of the construction industry association, Tim-Oliver Müller. Since the orders could only be processed slowly, there was a price-adjusted sales decline of 2.9 percent in August. In nominal terms, however, sales rose by 6.8 percent compared to the same month last year.
The Central Association of the Construction Industry referred to weak base values from the Corona year 2020 to at least partially explain the strong increase in demand. Commercial companies in particular ordered more construction work than in the previous year, while public customers held back.
Appeal to the traffic light coalition
The general manager of the Central Association of the German Construction Industry (ZDB), Felix Pakleppa, demanded impetus from the construction industry in the negotiations on the traffic light coalition. In public construction, “we see the municipalities’ limited room for maneuver as a result of the Corona crisis,” he explained. The construction industry is ready to lend a hand – whether with the renewal of the infrastructure or the energetic renovation of the existing building stock.
The construction industry has come through the Corona crisis comparatively well, not least because of low interest rates and the continuing high demand for living space – especially in the larger cities. Meanwhile, there is an increasing shortage of trained personnel on the German construction sites. In building construction, 33.5 percent of companies reported problems finding skilled workers in September. In civil engineering, even 37.9 percent complained about a lack of suitable applicants.