According to the Economic and Steel Market Outlook 2016-2017/Q1 2016 Report from the Economic Committee of the European Steel Association (EUROFER), in line with expectations output of the EU construction sector in the third quarter of last year strengthened moderately further.
According to EUROFER, growth was particularly robust in Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, whereas in most other markets construction activity grew less vigorously or stagnated. The only construction markets in the EU remaining on a distinct downward trend were France and Austria.
With fairly similar business conditions in the fourth quarter, total EU construction activity is estimated to have risen by 1.8 percent year on year in 2015.
The EUROFER report indicated that the outlook for 2016 and 2017 is for a steady rebound of construction output growth. While the residential sector will continue to lend major support to overall activity growth in the years ahead, prospects for the nonresidential and civil engineering sector appear to be improving. Strengthening economic growth, improving business sentiment and profitability, availability of cheap finance and the growing recognition among EU authorities of the urgent need to remove infrastructure bottlenecks are expected to fuel private and public investment in infrastructure and non-residential projects.
Most EU countries foresee a positive trend in construction activity growth over the forecast period of 2016-17. Total EU output is forecast to rise by 2.3 percent in 2016 and by 2.5 percent in 2017.