Construction (Germany):
Price declines
ifo Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, München, 2008
in: ifo Konjunkturperspektiven, 2008, 35, Nr. 11, 13-18
In construction the business climate has continued to worsen somewhat. The firms are slightly more dissatisfied with their present business situation, and they assess their outlook with more reserve. Their appraisal of order stocks was a bit more critical than in the previous month, but on the whole the assessment of order stocks has changed very little over the course of the year. The share of firms that complain of business constraints from lacking orders is at about the same level as that of twelve months ago. Equipment utilisation is similarly strong as in the previous year. What has changed is the price policies of the firms: they are now more ready to grant concessions in their prices. Within the construction sectors, the equipment utilisation rate in civil engineering declined in comparison to November 2007 whereas it increased in structural engineering. However, both in commercial structural engineering as well as in residential construction, the responses that express scepticism regarding the business outlook have increased somewhat.