BERLIN – Germany’s construction sector expects sales to recover in 2022 after a lull this year due to the coronavirus pandemic and supply shortages for building material, industry associations HDB and ZDB said on Thursday.
Nominal sales are forecast to rise by 5.5% to 151 billion euros ($171 billion) in 2022 following an estimated increase of 0.5% this year, they said in a joint statement. They see real-term sales rising 1.5% next year after a drop of 6% in 2021.
Bottlenecks in the supply of timber, steel and insulating material have driven up prices, hurting margins for many construction companies.
Employment in construction is projected to increase by a further 10,000 to 915,000 jobs next year.
($1 = 0.8840 euros)
(Reporting by Klaus Lauer; Writing by Michael Nienaber; editing by John Stonestreet)
