Data published by Eurostat showed that in July, the construction output decreased by 2.2% per year after a 1.3% decline in June (revised from +1.0%). It was the 6th reduction in a row. Economists had expected growth of 1.3%. On a monthly basis, the volume of construction remained unchanged after rising 0.6% in June. Meanwhile, among the EU countries, the volume of construction increased by 0.2% m/m and fell by 2.4% per annum.
In the euro area, production in construction decreased for construction of buildings (-0.8%), but remained stable for civil engineering and for specialized construction activities. In the EU, production in construction decreased for construction of buildings (-0.2%) and for civil engineering (-0.7%), but increased by 0.2% for specialized construction activities.
Compared with July 2023, in the euro area, production in construction increased by 0.2% for civil engineering, but decreased for construction of buildings (-3.5%) and for specialized construction activities (-2.8%). In the EU, production in construction decreased by 4.6% for construction of buildings, by 0.4% for civil engineering and by 2.5% for specialized construction activities.
Among Member States, the largest annual decreases were recorded in Slovenia (-12.0%), the Netherlands (-7.8%) and Sweden (-7.5%). The highest increases were observed in Bulgaria (+2.5%) and Spain (+2.5%), Czechia (+2.0%) and Portugal (+1.7%).