Steep fall in Europe’s construction output

Seasonally adjusted construction output in the 27 EU member states (EU27) fell 8.5% year-on-year in December 2012, marking 12 months in a row of year-on-year declines.

Construction output in the Eurozone also fell 4.8% year-on-year in December. The largest decreases were registered in Poland (23.7%), Portugal (18.2%), Bulgaria (15.1%) and the UK (15%). The strongest year-on-year increases were seen in Sweden (5.2%) and Spain (4.5%).

In terms of sectors, building construction output declined 6.2% in the Eurozone and 8.3% in the EU27, while civil engineering output decreased 2.9% in the Eurozone and 11.2% in the EU27 between December 2011 and December 2012.

A month-on-month comparison also revealed declining construction output. Compared with November 2012, output in December fell 1.7% in the Eurozone and 2.7% in the EU27.

The largest month-on-month decreases were registered in Bulgaria (10.3%), Poland (10.1%) and Germany (8.9%), while the highest increases were seen in Slovenia (7.2%), Hungary (3.4%) and Sweden (3.3%).

Building construction output decreased 1.6% in the Eurozone and 2.6% in the EU27 between November and December last year, while civil engineering output fell 2.1% in the Eurozone and 2.3% in the EU27.