Banks see an upswing

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"Few privately financed residential construction projects are currently being realized," says Hubert Wetschnig, head of HABAU in Perg.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Markus Wenzel, Karl Schöndorfer)

Domestic banks are reporting a "turnaround" in the granting of housing loans. Is the construction industry already feeling the effects? We asked Hubert Wetschnig, CEO of the HABAU Group from Perg. He sees the industry as "remarkably resilient" in any case. 

The demand for residential construction financing is picking up again - as both Oberbank CEO Franz Gasselsberger and Hypo-OÖ CEO Klaus Kumpfmüller announced this week. The latter even spoke of a "turnaround in private residential construction".

"Construction activity continues to fall sharply across the country"
Is the construction industry already feeling the effects of these signals? "The construction industry in Austria, especially in the residential construction sector, is currently going through a challenging phase. Construction activity is still greatly reduced across the country," says Hubert Wetschnig.

The head of HABAU, which operates from Perg and is also the spokesman for the Upper Austrian construction industry, explains that "hardly any new projects are currently being realized in privately financed residential construction. Increased material and land costs, the shortage of skilled workers and declining order numbers are putting project developers under pressure.

Road and energy infrastructure is going well
"Despite the challenges, the construction industry is proving remarkably resilient and adaptable," says Wetschnig. In the road and energy infrastructure sectors, the order situation is satisfactory.

Advantage of the full-service provider
How are things going for HABAU? "We have the advantage that, as a full-service provider, we can also balance out the challenges in building construction," explains Wetschnig. The order situation for bridge, pipeline, line and tunnel construction projects is very good.