Until the end of 2006 the construction production in Europe had increased steadily, but began to decline sharply with the onset of the economic and financial crisis. Between 2013 and 2014 this sector experienced a slight recovery, but only reached 80% of the pre-crisis average level. Since then, construction output has remained relatively stable.
Building accounts for 78% of total EU construction, while civil engineering accounts for about 22%.
The crisis in the construction industry reached all EU countries, but has not affected them all in the same way. The most affected countries were Lithuania, Ireland and Greece; the least affected were Germany and Austria.
Market study of the construction sector
Continuing with the market study of the construction industryEurope met expectations in 2014, and 2015 was the second consecutive year of growth.
However, construction remained in recession in France during 2015. More countries, such as Italy and Germany, have failed to outperform previous years' output. It seems that companies have given themselves some time before acting to make sure that growth was solid.
This sector has a two-year growth peak ahead of it, which will be used unevenly across countries. The countries with the best prospects for the coming years are Ireland, Poland, Spain and Portugal.
The investment in construction in 2015 has returned to growth in both the euro area and the EU. The countries that are investing the most are the Netherlands (+12.3%), Cyprus (+12%), Lithuania (+1.6%) and Sweden (+10.7%). On the opposite side are Greece (-9.2%) and France (-3.2%).
Favourable financing conditions and low mortgage interest rates, together with rising household disposable income, should boost demand for residential real estate in the coming months and support construction investment.
According to construction sector sentiment indicators, 2017 is expected to see a faster pace of underlying growth in construction investment. According to the European Central Bank's construction market survey forecasts, construction investment in the euro area for 2017 is expected to grow by 4.21GDP3T.
