Ifo Architects’ Survey: Incoming Orders Drop Considerably

The business climate clouded over slightly at the beginning of the third quarter of 2013, according to the results of the Ifo Institute’s survey of freelance architects. The business climate nevertheless remains very friendly. The architects surveyed assessed their current business situation even more favourably than last quarter. Slightly better values were last seen during a few quarters at the beginning of the 1990s. Although the share of freelance architects who assessed their current order situation as “poor” increased from 14 to 16%, the share of “good” responses rose more sharply and almost reached the 50% marker. As far as their business outlook is concerned, however, architects became far more sceptical. The share of architects who expected an “‘improved’ order situation over the next six months” shrank from 17% to 14%, while an equally large number expected developments to be negative. 55% of the architects surveyed signed new orders in the second quarter of 2013. This figure was lower than that of the previous quarter at 57%. The upwards trend, which has persisted for a good ten years, thus seemed to flatten out significantly.