European construction boom virtually unchanged Selected results of the 2007 Euroconstruct summer conference

Last year, the European construction sector recorded its best growth rate (3.7%) in 25 years. This year the European construction sector will grow by 2½ percent. In each of the following years, 2008 and 2009, growth will weaken to about 2 percent p.a., according to the forecast of the Euroconstruct group. The largest growth stimulator in the forecast period (up to 2009) will be civil engi-neering, followed by non-residential construction. For civil engineering the Euroconstruct experts forecast an annual growth in construction volume of a good 3½ percent for 2007 to 2009. Housing construction, which topped the building sectors in 2006 with a growth of 4.1 percent, will lose much of its mo-mentum.