ABSTRACT
The German building and construction industry has been experiencing difficult times for a long time now. For four years in the old Länder and for three years in the new Länder, construction output has really been on the decrease. The building and construction industry in the new Länder reveals particular weaknesses. Here, the downward trend is really dramatic. For 1998, total construction output reached a value of 369.73 billion DM (1995 Prices) and was therefore around 20 billion DM above the value for 1991. This increase in value corresponds to an actual increase of 5.9% in construction output. In the same period of time, the gross national product increased from 2,853.6 billion DM to 3, 186.7 billion DM, meaning that the relative growth rate of the GNP lay at 11. 7%. From that, one can deduce a decrease in the share of the national economic net product represented by construction output, falling from 12.2% in 1991 to 11. 6% in 1998. For the old Federal territory, this negative change turned out to be much more emphatic: in this case, the share of the GNP represented by construction output actually fell from 11.3% (1991) to 8.3% (1998).
