Press Release

94th EUROCONSTRUCT Conference
Embargo: 21 November, 2022 - 09:00 CEST

Nearly all factors negative as European construction looks set to stagnate

  • EUROCONSTRUCT’s latest economic forecasts predict that construction output growth will drop to 0% in 2024 across Europe.
  • Civil engineering looks positive, but other sectors are expected to be negative.

New economic data points to a difficult two years for construction across Europe, with growth forecasts dropping to 0.2% in 2023 and a flat 0% in 2024 compared to 2% previously. Despite a more positive 2022 with 3.0% growth expected, construction output is likely to be weaker than previously thought, with no recovery expected until 2025.

The figures were revealed at EUROCONSTRUCT’s economic forecast event last week in London, where experts from Experian and Barbour ABI shared the latest trend data.

Mohammed Chaudri, Chief Economist of Experian said:

"During the past six months, there have been enormous changes in Europe that have impacted the economic operating environment of construction. The Ukraine war and the manifold impacts and uncertainties it induces, rising interest rates, the tightening of the financial market, and the ongoing problems with construction material availability and costs are all playing a significant part. EUROCONSTRUCT’s November forecast found that nearly all factors which affect construction demand are negative, including the economy, consumer prices, interest rates and consumer confidence. It looks like it could be a rough period of adjustment for the industry, before a return to growth in 2024.”

Residential leads downturn
Much of the negative outlook is driven by the new residential and residential renovation sectors. The era of low interest rates led to a boom in new-build housing across Europe, but the situation has changed substantially in the past six months. Housing sales have slowed down, consumer confidence has dropped and there is now oversupply in many countries.
The result is that the growth outlook for next year’s new residential construction has turned negative. The picture does not improve when looking at the construction sector as a whole.

Tom Hall, Barbour ABI’s Chief Economist added:

"The construction industry is experiencing headwinds from multiple directions and things are changing quickly. The economic growth predictions for 2023 have moved accordingly. It was only as recently as June that we were expecting 2.2% growth in GDP – this is now as little as 0.5%. Businesses would do well to diversify their portfolios, especially if they are focused on residential projects. There is a glimmer of light though, with civil engineering looking more positive as many countries invest in low-carbon energy and renovate existing infrastructure.”

Country by Country
Italy is the best performer in Europe in 2021, with a high growth level of 12.1% driven in part by EU subsidies.
The UK, currently one of the worst-performing economies in Europe, faces a negative construction output growth cycle in 2023 (-0.4%) alongside Germany, which faces a negative or stagnating outlook for growth all the way up to 2025 (-0.4%).
Construction will also contract in eight countries, the most in Sweden and Finland. In both countries, construction has been high, so the decline partially marks a return to a more normal construction volume.

About EUROCONSTRUCT
94th EUROCONSTRUCT Conference was held in London on the 18th November 2022, hosted by Barbour ABI and Experian.
EUROCONSTRUCT was set up in 1974 by specialised research organisations from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and United Kingdom as a study group for construction analysis and forecasting. It has since expanded from the core group to include almost all Western European countries, as well as 4 Central Eastern European countries. At present, EUROCONSTRUCT has member institutes in 19 European countries.
EUROCONSTRUCT‘s objective is to provide decision-makers in the construction sector and other to the construction industry-related markets with information, analyses and forecasts to enable them to plan their business better and more effectively. Furthermore, the activities of the EUROCONSTRUCT network addresses to official institutions like ministries or agencies and to national and international associations.

Date.UTC(2019,0,1) 1.7 2.7
Date.UTC(2020,0,1) -6.3 -4.4
Date.UTC(2021,0,1) 5.5 5.8
Date.UTC(2022,0,1) 3.3 3.0
Date.UTC(2023,0,1) 0.5 0.2
Date.UTC(2024,0,1) 1.9 0.0
Date.UTC(2025,0,1) 1.9 1.1
Date.UTC(2023,2,28)
Date.UTC(2023,2,28)
Date.UTC(2023,2,28)
Date.UTC(2023,2,28)
Date.UTC(2023,2,28)
Date.UTC(2023,2,28)
Date.UTC(2023,2,28)
Date.UTC(2023,2,28)
Date.UTC(2023,2,28)
Date.UTC(2023,2,28)
"‘Construction output in the EC-19 area is expected to stagnate in 2023 and 2024."

 

National trends in the EUROCONSTRUCT area

Date.UTC(2019,0,1) 97.6 97 87.1 96.9 102.9 98.5 104.4 79.5 94.4 99.7 96.2 99.3 89.9 105.6 98.9 95.9 100 101.9 94.3 120.3 98.1 96
Date.UTC(2020,0,1) 94.3 91.9 93.9 95.8 91 100.6 94.8 75.9 94.6 97.8 99.5 90 90.9 105 85.5 91.6 96.7 95.1 92.2 105 94.4 91.8
Date.UTC(2021,0,1) 99.8 98.7 100.3 97.4 97 100.5 91.8 89.2 96.9 99.4 102.6 96.1 96.9 101.8 97.3 97.1 98.6 99.3 95.7 100.1 97.2 97.1
Date.UTC(2022,0,1) 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Date.UTC(2023,0,1) 100.3 99.9 98.5 96.5 101.6 100.4 102.5 100.6 101.2 98.8 101.2 102.7 93.4 100.5 99.6 100.3 98.2 93.4 100.1 103.4 98.7 100.2
Date.UTC(2024,0,1) 101 101.3 98.3 94.5 103.4 100.6 106.7 94.5 101.8 101.8 102.6 104.8 93.1 101.4 100.7 100.3 101.3 89.2 101.5 108.6 99.7 100.2
Date.UTC(2025,0,1) 101.8 100.9 99.6 92.3 105 100.2 111 95.5 102.3 105.4 104.1 106.7 97 103.2 102.5 101.3 103.2 91 105.2 111 102.5 101.4

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PRESS CONTACT

94th EUROCONSTRUCT Conference
Experian, United Kingdom
Mr Mohammed Chaudhri
mohammed.chaudhri@experian.com

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