Construction (Germany):
More price concessions

In construction the business climate remained virtually unchanged. Complaints of insufficient order reserves did not increase. The range of order reserves did not change and equipment was utilised to a similar extent as in the previous year. The prospect of an economic stimulus package has not led to price increases. To the contrary, the firms are increasingly anticipating downward adjustments of their prices. While the current business situation has hardly changed in civil engineering, in home building and public-sector building construction, the enterprises in commercial construction are more dissatisfied with their business situation than in November. The range of order reserves in commercial construction has noticeably declined in comparison to December 2007. On the whole, however, construction is currently a sector that appears to be relatively stable.