Europe’s construction output falls again

Construction output in from the European Union (EU27) fell 5.8% year-on-year in June, while output from the Eurozone fell 2.8%, according to the latest figures from Eurostat.

This makes June the sixth consecutive month since the start of 2012 in which construction output declines have been recorded.

The largest annual decreases for June were registered in Portugal (-18.9%), UK (-15.5%), Hungary (-11.1%) and Slovakia (-11.0%). Year-on-year increases in construction output were recorded in Sweden (4.6%), Germany (3.0%) and Romania (0.1%).

In terms of sectors, Eurostat said building construction output declined 3.2% in the Eurozone and -5.6% in the EU27 year-on-year in June. Output in the civil engineering sector decreased 3.8% in the Eurozone and -9.3% in the EU27 compared to June 2011.

On a month-on-month basis, construction output was down 0.5% in the Eurozone and -1.7% in the EU27.

Compared to May, the largest decreases in June's construction output were registered in Romania (-10.0%), UK (-4.7%), Poland (-2.4%) and Germany (-2%), while the strongest increases were seen in Slovenia (6.8%), Spain (1.3%), Sweden (1.1%) and France (0.7%).

Building construction dropped 0.1% month-on-month in the Eurozone in June, and -1.4% in the EU27, while civil engineering output fell 0.7% in the Eurozone and -2.2% in the EU27 in June, compared to May.