According to Eurostat estimates, production in construction improved by 3% y/y in the euro area in January 2015, and by 1.4% y/y in the EU28. Growth in the euro area has been attributed to a 3% increase in building construction and civil engineering. In the EU28, building construction and civil engineering were up 1.6% and 0.4% y/y, respectively.
The biggest year-on-year increases in production in construction figures were in Spain (+14.4%), Romania (+12.8%), Sweden (+11.3%), the Czech Republic (+8.3%) and Hungary (+8.1%). In Bulgaria, the UK and Italy, production in construction fell by 4.2%, 3.3% and 2.4%, respectively.
When compared to December 2014, growth of 1.9% was reported for the euro area on a seasonally adjusted basis, with building construction improving by 2.3% and civil engineering by 0.2%. The construction sector grew by 1% in the EU28. Although building construction was up 1.3%, civil engineering dropped 0.7%.
Month-on-month declines were experienced in Romania (-5.3%), the UK (-2.8%) and Bulgaria (-1.7%). The largest improvements occurred in Slovenia (+11.2%), the Czech Republic (+8.7%), Hungary (+6.6%) and Germany (+5%).
Adapted from press release by Louise Fordham