In December 2012, the Italian seasonally adjusted construction output index increased by 1.6 percent month on month, according to preliminary figures from Istat, Italy's national statistics office. The average index value for the December quarter decreased by 3.3 percent compared to the previous quarter.
Last December, the calendar adjusted index of production in the Italian construction sector was down 15.4 percent compared with December 2011, while for the whole of 2012 the index went down by 14.2 percent year on year. In all four quarters of last year, the seasonally adjusted index fell on quarter-on-quarter basis, respectively down 8.5 percent, 2.2 percent, two percent and 3.3 percent, while the calendar-adjusted index did not show any sign of recovery, decreasing in each of the respective quarters by 14 percent, 13.8 percent, 14.1 percent and 15 percent year on year.
According to Istat, in 2012 the Italian construction sector output index recorded its worst average reading since the beginning of the historical series in 1995.