According to the Economic and Steel Market Outlook 2018-2019/Q2 2018 Report from the Economic Committee of the European Steel Association (EUROFER), EU construction output growth in 2017 surpassed previous estimates and grew by 4.8 percent year on year. Since 2016, the EU construction sector has been witnessing a cyclical rebound from the deep and long downturn dating back to the global financial crisis. Last year the rebound gained further momentum.
According to EUROFER, while initially the construction upturn was confined to Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK, over the past two years it spread to the other EU countries. This is particularly true for France and Poland. The major growth driver in Western Europe remains the surge in demand for new housing and for residential renovation and modernization. Demand for housing has also been fuelled by the migrant inflows into several EU member states over the past few years.
The EUROFER report indicated that total EU construction output is estimated to have grown by 3.6 percent in the first quarter of the current year. Only in the UK, Germany and Hungary activity weakened compared with the same period of 2017.