The mood in the housing construction industry is worse than ever

This is confirmed by a study by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW). Expenditure on construction work will therefore fall this year for the first time since the financial crisis in 2009. A decline of 3.5 percent to around 546 billion euros is forecast. Housing construction alone is likely to shrink by 5.4 percent. The downward trend is somewhat cushioned by civil engineering, which includes state-dominated road construction: it is expected to increase by 1.8 percent. Last year, the construction volume grew by a total of 6.1 percent, exaggerated by strong price increases. Adjusted for inflation, however, there was the third real decline in a row at 1.1 percent, which is expected to be even larger in 2024 at minus 1.5 percent.