According to ANCE's forecasts, in the current year the only segment in the Italian construction industry which will show an improvement in terms of investment volume is the maintenance/renovation sector, which will see a 0.5 percent increase. However, decreases, including -5.9 percent for new houses, -4.3 percent for non-residential private housing and -9.7 percent for public works, do not leave room for optimism. From 2008 to 2011, the new housing market in Italy has shrunk by 35.5 percent, while public works has contracted by 28.7 percent.
The factors which hamper recovery, according to the ANCE report, include reduced credit supply to companies and delays in payments by public bodies, as well as the decline in infrastructure funding. The impact on employment is serious: since the beginning of the crisis the construction industry in Italy has lost 230,000 jobs, not to mention the effect on satellite industries.
ANCE estimates on investments in the Italian construction sector |
|||
Investments in 2011 (million euro ) |
Change y-o-y 2011 (%) |
Change y-o-y 2012 (%) |
|
Residential |
74,011 |
-2.0 |
-1.7 |
New |
28,769 |
-5.9 |
-5.3 |
Maintenance/renovation |
45,242 |
+0.5 |
+0.5 |
Non-residential |
61,327 |
-6.5 |
-5.1 |
Private |
36,312 |
-4.3 |
-3.8 |
Public |
25,015 |
-9.7 |
-7.2 |
TOTAL |
135,338 |
-4.0 |
-3.2 |