Half-year figures for the construction industry: Civil engineering stable or on track, residential construction remains a construction site. Berlin - The figures published today by the Federal Statistical Office on economic development in the construct...

Half-year figures for the construction industry: Civil engineering stable or on the right track, residential construction remains a construction site. Berlin (ots) - Felix Pakleppa, Managing Director of the German Construction Association, commented on the figures published today by the Federal Statistical Office on the economic development in the construction industry for companies with 20 or more employees:

"We continue to observe a two-pronged economic development in the construction industry. While civil engineering is benefiting from sustainable investments in energy and transport infrastructure, the weak overall economic situation in Germany is particularly burdening building construction.

In building construction, demand for residential construction is stabilizing, with a nominal increase in orders of approximately 12 percent – ​​a positive sign, but unfortunately not yet a turning point. In real terms, i.e., excluding price developments, the order volume remains more than 25 percent below the 2022 level. Furthermore, the current approval figures offer no reason for hope for a sustained recovery. Especially in the crucial segment of rental housing construction, multi-family housing, we are still stuck in the slump.

The federal government remains responsible for resolutely implementing the correct and important projects set out in the coalition agreement. Our appeal remains: To enable more people to build homes again, we now need a new EH 55 Plus program – a subsidy that combines the Efficiency House 55 standard with a 100 percent renewable heating solution, such as a heat pump, pellet heating, or district heating.

The weak economic development in Germany is also having a noticeable impact on demand for commercial buildings. In commercial construction, nominal orders up to June 2025 were only slightly above the already weak previous year's level at approximately +2.5 percent – ​​a sign of the continued weakness in commercial building construction. Although the federal government has now approved the investment booster, it only came into effect in July. In addition, structural problems and competitive disadvantages are further slowing German companies.

The situation in civil engineering remains ambivalent: By June 2025, incoming orders were nominally 11 percent higher than the previous year, thus continuing their upward trend. Projects in the expansion of energy infrastructure and rail construction contributed particularly strongly to this. The situation is different in road construction, where orders actually declined by a good 1 percent. Order freezes at Autobahn GmbH and the strained financial situation of many municipalities have slowed demand here.

Revenue also continued to show a differentiated development for the first half of 2025. A total of around 51 billion euros were generated in the first half of the year; in nominal terms, this corresponds to an increase of almost 5 percent, but in real terms – i.e., excluding price developments – an increase of just over 2 percent. While building construction remained at the previous year's level in real terms, civil engineering grew by almost 5 percent. Residential construction generated revenue of just under 11 billion euros, a nominal decline of around 2 percent, but in real terms of just over 4 percent compared to the previous year. Commercial construction generated just over 23 billion euros. Revenue in public construction reached just over 17 billion euros. Road construction generated revenue of just under 7 billion euros; in nominal terms, this corresponds to the previous year's level, but in real terms a decline of approximately 4 percent.

Press contact:

Iris Rabe, Head of Communications and Press, Central Association of the German Construction Industry, Kronenstr. 55-58, 10117 Berlin, Phone +49 30-20314-409, Fax +49 30-20314-420, Email: [email protected]

Further material: http://presseportal.de/pm/33001/6103166OTS: ZDB Central Association of the German Construction Industry