CE Barometer November 2015: Winter slowdown after shaky second half

With days getting shorter and weather getting worse, it is common for the European construction industry to experience a slowdown in the final months of the year, and this seemed to be the case based on the results of the November CE Barometer survey.

A negative balance of -6.6% of respondents said activity levels were lower in November than a year ago, indicating a slowdown in activity. The balance figure is the percentage of positive responses minus the percentage of negative responses. A positive figure indicates growth, a negative one contraction. This was a decline from the positive result of +1.2% seen in October.

However, the survey participants remained optimistic about the future, with a balance of +38.7% saying they expected to be busier in a year’s time than now. This was up a little on October’s result, and similar to the figure recorded in September.

There was also encouragement to be taken from the positive balance of +8.5% of respondents who said activity levels were higher now than in November 2014. This was a turnaround from the balance figure of -8.1% in October.

These mixed results took the overall CE Climate figure, a composite index of all survey data, to +13.5%, up from the +9.3%, a recent low point.

Although some of November’s CE Barometer results were an improvement on October’s, the longer-term picture is that confidence has been shaky in the second half of the year. It is the type of data which indicates a fairly flat market, rather than an industry with a clear trend in one direction or the other.

Take part

The survey, which takes just a one minute to complete, is open to all construction professionals working in Europe. The CE Barometer survey is open from the 1^st to the 15^th of each month on our website. Full information can be found at www.cebarometer.eu