Germany’s housebuilding sector is ‘in a confidence crisis’

Germany’s housebuilding sector has gone from bad to worse in recent months.

Economic data is painting a concerning picture, and industry leaders appear uneasy.

“The housebuilding sector is, I would say, a little bit in a confidence crisis,” Dominik von Achten, chairman of German building materials company Heidelberg Materials, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday.

“There are too many things that have gone in the wrong direction,” he said, adding that the company’s volumes were down significantly in Germany.

In January both the current sentiment and expectations for the German residential construction sector fell to all-time lows, according to data from the Ifo Institute for Economic Research. The business climate reading fell to a negative 59 points, while expectations dropped to negative 68.9 points in the month.

“The outlook for the coming months is bleak,” Klaus Wohlrabe, head of surveys at Ifo, said in a press release at the time.

Meanwhile, January’s construction PMI survey for Germany by the Hamburg Commercial Bank also fell to the lowest ever reading at 36.3 — after December’s reading had also been the lowest on record. PMI readings below 50 indicate contraction, and the lower to zero the figure is, the bigger the contraction.

“Of the broad construction categories monitored by the survey, housing activity remained the worst performer, exhibiting a rate of decline that was among the fastest on record,” the PMI report stated.

The issue has also been weighing on Germany’s overall economy.

German Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck on Wednesday said the government was slashing its 2024 gross domestic product growth expectations to 0.2% from a previous estimate of 1.3%. Habeck pointed to higher interest rates as a key challenge for the economy, explaining that those had led to reduced investments, especially in the construction…