immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: Schweizerische Baumeisterverband

  • Decline in orders continues

    Decline in orders continues

    In the first half of 2023, the main construction industry generated 11 billion Swiss francs in turnover, which is practically stagnant compared to the same semester last year. Building construction and civil engineering developed similarly. Accordingly, capacity utilisation is still high and the employment situation is good.

    Lower construction activity in the medium term

    In the medium term, however, the outlook is becoming gloomier. In the first half of the current year, orders in building construction were CHF 0.6 billion lower than in the same period last year, in civil engineering CHF 0.5 billion lower. Overall, this corresponds to a decline of 8.3 percent. Several companies even reported a negative order intake overall. This means that already planned construction projects were temporarily paused, redimensioned or completely put on hold.

    Accordingly, the work in progress has also decreased in the past quarters, standing at 15.9 billion Swiss francs at the end of June 2023, 2.6 percent lower than a year ago.

    From housing surplus to housing shortage

    The stock of housing orders has also declined. The trend is clear, too few flats will be built this year and next. In the last 12 months, the franc volume of approved housing applications has fallen by 9 per cent compared to the previous 12 months. The housing shortage could be solved more quickly with less regulation. In addition, appeals are often used to push through particular interests at the expense of the creation of new housing. SBC will lobby accordingly at the Federal Council’s next round table on the housing shortage so that construction activity can be accelerated again.

    SBC thanks Credit Suisse for very good cooperation – Construction Index to be continued

    The Construction Index predicts a 2% increase in turnover for the next quarter compared to the same period last year. This edition marks the end of SBC’s 14-year partnership with Credit Suisse on the Construction Index. SBC would like to thank Credit Suisse for the always very good cooperation, it has been greatly appreciated. SBC will continue the established forecasting tool, from the 4th quarter of 2023 in an adapted form and with a new look.

  • Master Builders’ Association counters shortage of skilled workers

    Master Builders’ Association counters shortage of skilled workers

    The Swiss Association of Master Builders(SBA) expects a growing shortage of skilled workers in the construction industry. It has therefore commissioned a “Study on the Long-Term Development of the Economy and Skilled Workers in the Main Construction Industry” from the Competence Centre for Demographics, the association informs in a press release. According to the study, which was presented at the end of June at the Construction Industry Day in Lugano, the shortage of skilled workers, measured in terms of construction volume, could reach about 16 percent by 2040. This would cause annual turnover losses of up to CHF 800 million and thus endanger jobs in the construction industry.

    In Lugano, however, SBC Central President Gian-Luca Lardi also pointed out possible solutions. “If we increase turnover per capita by 0.5 per cent annually, we can make up for 50 per cent of the shortage of skilled workers,” Lardi is quoted as saying in the press release from his address at the industry’s traditional networking event. According to the association, this increase in productivity should mainly be achieved through digitalisation and innovation. At the same time, Lardi suggested “training more apprentices, keeping skilled workers in the profession longer and ultimately recruiting more lateral entrants”. In this way, the other half of the gap could be closed, according to the Central President.

  • Association of Master Builders demands increase of the threshold to eight percent

    Association of Master Builders demands increase of the threshold to eight percent

    In a report published on Friday, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO speaks plainly on the job notification requirement: “The development of the unemployment rate has a delayed effect on the number of occupational types subject to mandatory notification.(…) This means that at times of historically low unemployment, particularly in the second half of 2022, relatively many occupational types were subject to mandatory job notification.” With consequences for various sectors such as the construction industry. “Due to the simultaneous increase in demand for labour, various areas of the labour market entered a phase of shortage of skilled workers and labour,” the SECO report “Enforcement Monitoring of the Mandatory Job Notification” continues. This situation has only calmed down since the list of occupations subject to compulsory notification was reduced to a practical level as of 1 January 2023, thus more than halving the scope of the job notification requirement.

    The Swiss Association of Master Builders (SBA) also notes that the job notification requirement works in principle from a technical point of view and that the information advantage it gives jobseekers also offers advantages for the economy – provided that the regional employment centres (RAV) can actually forward dossiers of suitable candidates to companies for vacancies. This is because the perspective of the past has repeatedly led to a number of occupations with a clear shortage of skilled workers being subject to compulsory registration. This has had consequences in the main construction industry in particular: for jobs as concrete builders, cementers or the collective category that includes “other professions in the main construction industry”, the probability of successful placement has been a mere 1.5 to 2 per cent, according to estimates by the Institute for Economic Studies in Basel. In view of these vanishingly small chances of success, the construction companies rightly complain about the high costs involved in reporting a job to the RAV.

    Corrections to the mandatory job notification system are necessary
    It is therefore all the more important that the motion “Mandatory job notification. Re-introduction of a practical threshold value” by Erich Ettlin of the City Council, which is mentioned in the SECO report as one of several political initiatives on the job notification requirement, should now be dealt with and passed quickly in parliament. If the threshold value is eight percent instead of five percent in future, as called for by the motion, the danger of distorting temporal effects is much smaller. SBC also supports approaches that improve the quality of the survey methodology for the relevant percentage and make greater use of digital tools.

  • Builders' Association pleads for replacement new buildings

    Builders' Association pleads for replacement new buildings

    At its annual media conference, the Swiss Builders’ Association ( SBV ) presented its action plan for the aggressive modernization of buildings . In order to achieve the climate goals, the pace of building renovation must be tripled, the SBV explained in a statement at the media conference. In its action plan, the association advocates new replacement buildings in particular. They are “an integral part of the circular economy and save much more energy and pollutants than old buildings,” says the statement.

    In the action plan, the SBV calls, among other things, for the establishment of a utilization bonus of 30 percent for replacement new buildings. They should also be put on an equal footing with energy-related refurbishments when it comes to funding. In addition, the SBV pleads for a limit to the number of protected buildings and for the equal importance of densification with the protection of the townscape. The recycling of building materials, which is still being tested, should also “not be slowed down by over-regulation”, according to the action plan.

    At the annual media conference, the SBV also addressed the situation in the construction industry. It “proved to be an important and stable pillar of the Swiss economy during the two years of the corona pandemic,” the statement said. Last year, with more than 91,500 full-time positions, the level before the outbreak of the pandemic was reached again.

    Your association sees delivery problems and increased prices for many building materials as a risk for the industry. The SBV explains that six out of ten construction companies have been affected by them in the past few months. The industry is also assuming high prices for building materials for the current year. A rise in interest rates is also expected in the medium term, which could make real estate less attractive as an investment.