BERLIN, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Germany's construction industry will continue to experience booming demand for the foreseeable future, according to a report published on Wednesday by the Central Association of the German Construction Industry (ZDB).
In light of strong recent earnings, ZDB predicted that revenue in the sector would grow by 5.5 percent to a total of 120 billion euros (139 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018 while the number of construction staff rose by 23,000 to 830,000. The association expects to record revenue growth of between five and six percent in 2019 as well.
"The economic engine of construction is still roaring," ZDB president Felix Pakleppa told press at the presentation of the report in Berlin.
Pakleppa said that strong revenue increases were the result of a sharp uptick in the number of new construction projects as well as rising prices. According to the ZDB president, four percentage points of the anticipated 5.5 percent rise in sales in 2018 were hereby "exclusively due to" higher material costs and wages.
While the German construction industry was so far successful in passing on these costs to customers, Pakleppa noted that it had consequently not experienced "large jumps in profitability".
The biggest price drivers were higher costs for reinforced concrete (plus 20 percent), timber (plus 4.7 percent) and skilled laborers (plus 6 percent).
The German Central Bank (Bundesbank) recently pointed to a continued expansion in the construction sector as having made an important contribution to overall gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Q2.
The Federal Association of the German Construction Industry (HDB) estimates that between 330,000 and 340,000 newly-built apartments will be completed in Germany 2018, slightly short of a government target of 350,000 needed to meet current levels of demand.
