EUROPEAN CONSTRUCTION MARKET
Return to recovery in 2014 / Moderate growth predicted to 2017 / UK and Eastern Europe key drivers of growth / Euroconstruct panel
 In the European construction market, growth of over 2% is predicted for the next years (Photo: PIE) |
A modest recovery in European construction output is expected to have occurred last year, according to market research group Euroconstruct (www.euroconstruct.org). Growth of 1% is anticipated for 2014, putting an end to seven years of crisis for the industry when it lost 21% of its volume, it says. Growth is expected to rise to 2.1% in 2015 and 2.2% in the following two-year period.
According to the new pan-European estimates, all three main construction markets are forecast to grow in the short-to-medium term. The residential sector is still suffering, particularly new builds, growing by just 0.1% in 2014. However, Euroconstruct says this sector will be a very important driver of future growth and will gain in average four percentage points in the period 2015-2017.
A similar trend is predicted for new non-residential investment, albeit more moderate and gaining little more than 2% in the three-year period.
The civil engineering sector, which grew by 1.4% in 2014, will continue to grow at 2.5% over the next three years, accelerating year by year, Euroconstruct estimates. Finally, renovation work, which has been able to absorb some of the sector’s decline in the past, will continue to have a cushioning effect.
The new estimates are set against a backdrop of a faltering economic recovery in the eurozone where output, wages and prices are stagnating. Growth, however, has been accelerating in the UK and northern European countries outside the eurozone. The UK’s residential market is booming again with 16% more new investment in 2014. New civil engineering work should also see growth of 4.5% in 2015 and 2016.
East European countries too have returned to robust growth after a sharp slowdown in 2012 and 2013. Eurocon is expected to enter into a new phase of growth, mainly due to EU funds boosting infrastructure projects.
Europe's thermoplastic profile extrusion sector accounts for around 1.8m t of polymer demand and involves more than 900 companies, according to a new directory published by Applied Market Information (AMI, Bristol / UK; www.amiplastics.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 09.02.2015.
According to the new pan-European estimates, all three main construction markets are forecast to grow in the short-to-medium term. The residential sector is still suffering, particularly new builds, growing by just 0.1% in 2014. However, Euroconstruct says this sector will be a very important driver of future growth and will gain in average four percentage points in the period 2015-2017.
A similar trend is predicted for new non-residential investment, albeit more moderate and gaining little more than 2% in the three-year period.
The civil engineering sector, which grew by 1.4% in 2014, will continue to grow at 2.5% over the next three years, accelerating year by year, Euroconstruct estimates. Finally, renovation work, which has been able to absorb some of the sector’s decline in the past, will continue to have a cushioning effect.
The new estimates are set against a backdrop of a faltering economic recovery in the eurozone where output, wages and prices are stagnating. Growth, however, has been accelerating in the UK and northern European countries outside the eurozone. The UK’s residential market is booming again with 16% more new investment in 2014. New civil engineering work should also see growth of 4.5% in 2015 and 2016.
East European countries too have returned to robust growth after a sharp slowdown in 2012 and 2013. Eurocon is expected to enter into a new phase of growth, mainly due to EU funds boosting infrastructure projects.
Europe's thermoplastic profile extrusion sector accounts for around 1.8m t of polymer demand and involves more than 900 companies, according to a new directory published by Applied Market Information (AMI, Bristol / UK; www.amiplastics.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 09.02.2015.
11.02.2015 Plasteurope.com [230458-0]
Published on 11.02.2015