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Prefabricated house construction: piece of the pie is getting bigger
Photo: Rolf Poss / IMAGO
Like the entire construction industry, providers of prefabricated wooden houses are currently having a difficult time.
The Federal Association of German Prefabricated Construction (BDF) announced on Monday that building permits for one- and two-family houses in prefabricated wooden construction fell by 38.1 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year.
According to the information, the loss suffered by prefabricated house manufacturers was somewhat smaller than in the market as a whole and gave them a record market share of 24.5 percent.
“Our piece of the pie in the housing market is getting bigger, but the pie itself is getting smaller and smaller,” said BDF managing director Achim Hannott.
Overall, according to the report, there were 40.4 percent fewer building permits for one- and two-family homes last year than in 2022. The overall market for new homes has roughly halved within two years, says Hannott.
The providers of prefabricated wooden construction are struggling with the same problems as the entire construction industry - increased interest rates and higher costs for materials and energy.
“In addition, the federal government’s construction and funding policy was not very reliable,” said BDF co-managing director Georg Lange.
According to the announcement, the prefabricated construction companies want to concentrate on new business areas such as serial construction in addition to the planning and construction of single- and two-family houses.
These include, for example, densification, conversion, extension, renovation or complete new buildings with mass-produced wall, roof and ceiling elements.
“Multi-story residential buildings and commercial buildings in the municipal, commercial and social sectors are becoming an increasingly important business area for prefabricated house manufacturers,” says Lange.
mik/dpa