CE Barometer for February 2023

The CE Barometer survey for February was undertaken during the first three weeks of March.

Construction professionals from across Europe took part in this month’s CE Barometer survey.

The overall climate figure for this month’s barometer has dropped from 17.7% to 4.9% - a significant decrease for this month’s survey.

This may demonstrate that the optimism going into the new year has now materialised and it is becoming clearer as to what the year holds.

Breaking this down, we look first at business levels in January, compared with February and find that the majority of respondents (42.2%) report that things are unchanged.

January saw a balance in those reporting that business levels were the same or better. The February results show that a decreased percentage of 31.4% reported better business whilst 26.5% recorded that it was worse than the previous month. This is a slight increase compared to the 22.2% in January who said that business was worse.

Comparing today’s business levels with those a year ago, things are staying at a steady level. Business is recorded to be better by 32.4% of respondents – a steady increase since last month’s 26.7%.

Looking ahead 12 months, results demonstrate that those who believe that business will be better (24.9%) are on par with those who think business will be worse (29.4%).

The February report shows no clear sign of where members of the industry think the sector will be in the future with equal levels of optimism and realism.