Data published by Eurostat showed that in June, the construction output increased by 1.0% per year (the strongest growth since January) after a 2.1% decline in May (revised from -2.4%). Economists had expected a decrease of 1.0% per year. On a monthly basis, the volume of construction increased by 1.7%, offsetting the May decline (-0.9%). Meanwhile, among the EU countries, the volume of construction increased by 1.4% m/m and fell by 0.1% per annum.
In the euro area, production in construction increased by 1.8% for construction of buildings, by 1.1% for civil engineering and by 0.5% for specialized construction activities. In the EU, production in construction increased by 0.1% for construction of buildings, by 1.4% for civil engineering and by 0.2% for specialized construction activities.
Compared with June 2023, in the euro area, production in construction increased by 1.5% for construction of buildings, by 3.5% for civil engineering and by 0.4% for specialized construction activities. In the EU, production in construction decreased by 1.0% for construction of buildings and by 0.3% for specialized construction activities, but increased by 1.5% for civil engineering.
Among Member States for which data are available, the largest annual decreases in production in construction were recorded in Slovenia (-19.0%), Czechia (-10.2%) and Sweden (-9.0%). The highest increases were observed in Spain (+4.8%), Bulgaria (+2.9%) and Portugal (+2.7%).