The Austrian prefabricated house market was able to record strong gains last year despite the economic crisis. Especially in the second half of 2020, the market was able to more than compensate for the stagnation of the first six months and achieve growth of 5.9% compared to the year before. The trend towards prefabricated housing will also continue for the next few years, as shown in a study by Interconnection Consulting.

Despite the grim expectations for 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic, the trend towards home ownership drove the demand for owner-occupied homes up. Furthermore, the need of young families in particular to move from the city to more rural regions in order to realise the dream of owning their own home with a fitness room, home office space and their own garden is increasing, explains Daniel Kollar, the author of the study. Overall, the prefabricated house market is growing faster than residential construction. The prefabricated house rate is also increasing from 23.2% in 2019 to 24.2% last year. The prefabricated house rate will continue to rise steadily over the next few years, reaching 28.4% by 2024 from today’s perspective.

Turnkey for Generation Y

All providers in the study mentioned a clear trend in favour of turnkey houses. Whereas ten years ago, shell-finish houses were the most popular stage of development, this segment is already lagging behind with less than a quarter of the market share. “The current generation of customers have grown up in an affluent society and do not want to spend weekends and holidays on a building site,” Kollar explains the trend towards turnkey houses. For Generation Y, sustainability also plays a major role in the purchase decision. The timber frame construction method will therefore continue to gain slightly in importance in the coming years. Overall, timber frame construction holds a share of 72.1%.

New Suppliers, Tougher Competition

In general, last year saw a slight decrease in market concentration. The cumulative market share of the top five companies fell from 36.1% to 35.1%. In the case of the top three companies, the decline was even more pronounced. This is mainly due to smaller suppliers strongly gaining market shares. The most important manufacturers are Elk Group, Haas, Hartl, Mischek and Wimberger.

10/02/2021

Copyright: Interconnection, Publication free of charge for coverage regarding the study and InterConnection Consulting.