June 18: Year starts with strong growth in construction investment
June 2018
DIW Berlin’s regular analysis of the German economy highlights especially strong growth in investment in construction at the beginning of the year.
“The big jump in orders at the end of 2017 made itself felt – especially in residential and commercial construction – temporarily causing a lot of bustle on the construction sites,” the report states.
The author expects strong growth in the second quarter, in particular in residential and commercial construction: “The order books are full, the need for new housing continues to be high and interest rates low.”
The report cautions that an acceleration in growth is not to be expected, citing stagnation in the number of approvals for new construction projects and the rising cost of construction due to capacity bottlenecks, rising raw material prices and higher wages.
Investment in construction in real terms (constant prices, change in percent) | ||||||
| 2017 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
| Share in percent | Change on previous year | |||||
| Residential construction | 60.8 | -0.7 | 4.0 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 2.7 |
| Non-residential construction | 39.2 | -2.5 | 0.8 | 2.7 | 3.4 | 2.5 |
| Commercial construction | 27.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 4.1 | 2.6 |
| Public construction | 11.8 | -0.8 | 2.7 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 2.3 |
| Construction investments | 100.0 | -1.4 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 2.6 |
| Equipment investments | 3.9 | 2.2 | 4.0 | 3.2 | 3.4 | |
Source: Federal Statistical Office; DIW Sommergrundlinien 2018 | ||||||
Read more:
- DIW Wochenbericht 2018 / 24 (see page 515, in German)
