Julia Bachtrögler at the 86th Euroconstruct Conference

Austria continues to face a favourable economic development in 2018, with a GDP growth rate above the EU average (+3.0 percent according to the latest WIFO short-term forecast). However, following increasing uncertainty which may hamper international trade, economic dynamics are expected to slow down notably in 2019. Business expectations of Austrian construction firms keep improving, which is mirrored in ongoing, albeit slowing down, growth in construction output after the growth peak in 2017. In upcoming years, output is expected to grow in all construction segments. In 2018, residential construction will still be the growth driver, however. After 2019, the civil engineering segment is expected to pick up speed. The non-residential construction segment is also expected to grow steadily until 2021, at slowly declining pace.

The latest construction market forecasts presented at the 86th Euroconstruct conference foresee continuing annual growth in construction output in the 19 Euroconstruct member countries until 2021. After the growth peak in 2017, however, construction market growth will slow down from year to year. The growth path is more promising in Eastern Europe, especially in Poland. Among the Western European countries, the outlook is specifically favourable in Portugal, Norway and the Netherlands. Albeit the overall positive forecast, Swedish construction output is predicted to shrink from 2019. In Germany development is expected to turn negative in 2020 after a long period of continuous construction growth. The Euroconstruct Country Report provides more detailed information on the construction market trends and its fundamentals in each of the 19 Euroconstruct member countries until 2021. The forecasts and analyses are presented on the country level and are based on a comparable harmonised dataset for the major construction sectors and indicators. The macroeconomic framework conditions are included additionally. – With contributions by Julia Bachtrögler, Anders Bjerre, Paul Donadieu, Ludwig Dorffmeister, Antonio Coimbra, Tomáš Dubovec, Josep Ramon Fontana, David Frič, Anne Kathrin Funk, Anna Gáspár, Paul Groot, James Hastings, Bengt Henricson, Annette Hughes, Nathalie Kouassi, Michael Klien, Vladimir Lenko, Jean-Pierre Liebaert, Nejra Macic, Ciara Morley, Renaud Muller, Valentin Niçaise, Markku Riihimäki, Radislav Semenov, Mariusz Sochacki, Antonella Stemperini, Michael Weingärtler, Youssef Yacoubi.

The construction forecasts presented at the 86th Euroconstruct conference foresee continuing annual growth in construction output in the 19 Euroconstruct member countries until 2021. After a growth peak in 2017, the growth rate of total construction output in 2018 was revised upwards by 1 percentage point to +2.8 percent at constant prices compared to the previous year. Together with the overall economic outlook, construction investment growth is expected to slow down in upcoming years. In 2017 strong construction growth was driven by, especially new, building construction. The growth rate was largest for total residential construction (+5.6 percent), which is expected to decline to +2.8 percent in 2018 and stagnate further in the years towards 2021. Likewise, a slowdown is expected for total non-residential construction in 2018 (+1.5 percent) as well as in subsequent years. A slightly different pattern is foreseen for the civil engineering segment, which is expected to expand extraordinarily by 5.0 percent on average in the Euroconstruct countries in 2018. In the following years, growth rates are predicted to fall as well but continuously exceed those of building construction. The Euroconstruct Summary Report provides a macroeconomic analysis and an overview of the European construction industry by sectors (housing, non-residential construction and civil engineering, new and renovation, respectively) up to 2021. – With contributions by Anders Bjerre, Matijas Kocijan, Valérie Plagnol, Pascal Marlier, Renaud Muller, Valentin Nicaise, Markku Riihimäki, Mariusz Sochacki, Youssef Yacoubi.