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A year with light and shadow
Patrick Weber, state guild master for construction in Tyrol and managing director of Baupuls GmbH, in the interview “Inquired by”.
A year with light and shadow
What will 2025 be like for the construction industry in Tyrol? Are there any signs of recovery or when do you expect a lasting trend reversal?
2025 will be a year of light and shadow for the Tyrolean construction industry. The order situation remains weak, especially in residential construction and renovations, and many companies are struggling with low capacity utilization. At the same time, we are seeing the first positive signals: Some companies are increasingly looking for employees again - an indication that the decline in demand may have bottomed out. However, I do not expect a sustainable trend reversal before mid-2026.
Income increased
What makes you confident and what makes you thoughtful?
What makes me optimistic is that incomes have risen faster in recent years than construction costs. This improves the affordability of living space. In addition, there are falling interest rates and a noticeable lack of condominiums in Tyrol - both of which indicate more demand in the long term.
What makes me think is that it is still hardly possible for many people to create property on their own. What would be necessary would be low-interest housing financing, tax breaks for the purchase of the first main residence and tax-free additional income opportunities. So far there are no political solutions to this. On the contrary: measures such as rent controls or higher taxes on property rezoning exacerbate the problems instead of solving them.
Copyright: Die Fotografen
What do you expect from politics? What measures should it take to support the construction industry?
We need clear investment incentives and better framework conditions. These include, for example:
- eine zinsgünstige Finanzierung für Wohnraum,
- steuerfreie Überstunden,
- attraktivere Abschreibungsmöglichkeiten für den ersten Hauptwohnsitz,
- eine gezielte Sanierungsförderung sowie
- die Ausweitung von Instrumenten wie dem Investitionsfreibetrag.
Only with such measures can we stimulate construction activity and make property affordable for young people and families again.
