Slight increase in sales

Overall sales by German builders’ merchants in fiscal 2014 were up by around one percent, according to a representative survey conducted by the Bundesverband Deutscher Baustoff-Fachhandel (Federal Association of German Building Materials Trade, BDB). The results of the survey, which covered the 1 000 or so members of the association, were revealed at the BAU trade show in Munich. BDB president Stefan Thurn expressed satisfaction, saying “We succeeded not only in maintaining the high level of previous years, but even in raising it slightly.” One particularly striking aspect in 2014 was that the slight increase in sales did not parallel the number of building permits granted, according to the BDB president. The trend here was very good, with planning permission being granted for 290 000 homes in 2014. The decisive figure for the industry, however, was the number of buildings completed, and this was where the discrepancy occurred: only around 240 000 homes were actually built in 2014, although this was 25 000 more than the previous year.