Dutch & Spanish construction sector keeps on improving

After a slight dip in the last semester of 2014, the German construction sector is expected to grow at a slightly faster pace then in the previous quarters.

By Dirk Hoogenboom
8 May 2015
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After a slight dip in the last semester of 2014, the German construction sector is expected to grow at a slightly faster pace then in the previous quarters. The positive signs in the Netherlands and Spain which were seen throughout the whole of 2014, are also visible in Q1 2015.

France and Italy are not recovering as fast as expected in earlier quarters, so a lot of architects in these two countries have been struggling throughout 2014 and keep on doing this in 2015. 

The British market keeps on improving, although at a slightly lower pace than expected in 2014. One of the reasons for this is that the building permits for both residential and non/residential buildings have decreased compared to last quarter and the construction confidence indicator shows a slight decrease

2014 and the first quarter of 2015 showed a quite stable positive development regarding the order books of Belgian architects. Although this percentage has increased the past two quarters, it still is lower than the European average. The building permits figures show opposite developments. Together with relatively stable, but slightly negative confidence indicators this leads to a prediction of the Belgian construction sector by Arch-Vision which is one of a steady and modest growth in future years

The Polish construction market is more volatile, but the order book development remains positive for 2015. Poland is a country which heavily relies on new build with respect to the construction sector volumes. Therefore the trend in building permits and turnover development should be watched closely. All together we expect that the Polish construction sector will fluctuate, but in general will have a positive trend. 

For more information on the European architectural barometer (based on 6,400 successful interviews per quarter) please feel free to contact me directly: hoogenboom(at)usp-mc.nl