No Increase in European Building Work in 2012 – Only Housing Developments Look Set to Increase: Selected Results of the Euroconstruct Winter Conference 2011

According to the latest analyses of experts from the 19 member states of the Euroconstruct network, there are still no signs of a recovery in the European construction industry. Overall construction volumes in the Euroconstruct group countries fell for the fourth time in succession in 2011. However, the decrease in activity was only small, after significant market corrections in some cases between 2008 and 2010. Growth is not expected in 2012 either. The main reason for construction work remaining at this low level is the intensification of the European debt crisis. This is forcing a growing number of governments to undertake consolidation measures that are cooling down the economy. As a result, average government investment in Europe is being curbed even further, the tax burden and social security contributions are being increased and changes are being made to welfare systems. States are spending less on maintaining and extending infrastructure, while consumption and, above all, the market climate is deteriorating for private market players. Both non-residential building construction and civil engineering look set to decline in 2012. The framework conditions for housing construction have deteriorated significantly in several countries, but this sub-segment should nevertheless see slight growth on a European average. The housing sector, which was the first building sector to be hit by the effects of the financial and economic crisis, seems to be stabilising. In many countries housing construction measures have declined so sharply in recent years that any further decreases seem unrealistic.