The European construction industry has been enjoying an upswing since 2014, which appears to have climaxed in 2017 with a growth rate of 3.5 percent. The outlook continues to be positive for many sectors of the construction industry in the next years. Even though Euroconstruct, a major construction market research network, expects growth to flatten slightly because investment in housing construction is slowing down. The rate of new housing construction in particular appears to be slacker than in the previous year. Civil engineering, on the other hand, which had been especially affected by the public austerity programmes ever since the financial market and economic crisis, is acting as an economic driver for the European construction industry.