SALES of new kitchens are up more than 10 percent already this year at German kitchen maker Haecker. For those who would rather someone else did the cooking, roasted monkfish and turbot with truffles are flopping onto plates at Berlin’s Michelin-starred restaurant Fischers Fritz.

    A blizzard of corporate good news shows that famously frugal Germans are now snapping up soccer shirts from Adidas and electronics from retail chain Media-Saturn.

    With interest rates on savings low, unemployment falling, oil prices sliding and pay rises outpacing inflation, economists say German consumers have finally woken up and are likely to keep on spending through 2015.

    Markus Sander, marketing head at Haecker, a family firm with more than 1,200 employees, said Germans were now splurging on high-end kitchens — many costing more than a new car — because low interest rates made saving unattractive and loans cheap.

    “Five years ago, the front-page headlines were all about unemployment. But now, you read about job growth everywhere so people are feeling less worried and they’re spending more on durables like furniture and kitchens,” he said.

    At Fischers Fritz, where main courses set diners back up to 90 euros (US$97.94), turnover soared by 10 percent last year. Head chef Christian Lohse said people hosting events were now ordering delicacies like trout caviar, not staples like sausage.

    “Germans think in terms of security and seem to feel secure at the moment. That’s really noticeable in the way they’re spending — the restaurant industry is booming,” he said.

    “People say: ‘Let’s just have a bigger, better party because if I can only get 0.0 or 0.1 percent interest on my money it’s not worth investing it so I might as well just spend it.”

    Frugality is still a prized national trait, and Germans still saved 9.2 percent of their disposable income on average last year. But while that figure is high by global standards, it was Germany’s second lowest since 2000.

    There are many signs that spending could increase further still this year, welcome news to struggling countries across the eurozone that have long complained that Germans hold back the rest of the bloc’s growth by buying less than they make.

    German unemployment is now at 6.5 percent, its lowest rate since reunification in 1990. German workers have secured the highest negotiated wage increases in two decades. A dramatic drop in energy prices is putting more cash in pockets too. (SD-Agencies)