Building materials are still in short supply, and low water levels are now endangering supply, with little hope of improvement.
FREMONT, CA: The output of new buildings in the EU was 2.3 per cent lower than it was before the war in Ukraine started. The productivity of the various nations varies greatly. The building industries in Austria and Germany have fallen the most by 6.3 per cent and 4.5 per cent, respectively. These nations suffer from significant labour and resource constraints.
Additionally, compared to customers in many other EU nations, German consumers are currently less likely to make home upgrades. In 2021, Austria will issue fewer building permits, which will probably impact production this year and the following. The Netherlands experienced the least decline -0.1% per cent, but despite this, Dutch contractor volumes climbed by a startling 5.3 per cent over the previous year. The Dutch residential and commercial building industry saw particularly strong growth. The Netherlands' high nitrogen emissions continue to be a problem for Dutch civil engineering.
Poland's construction industry, on the other hand, experienced the biggest year-over-year growth (6.7 per cent). The EU producer confidence indicator for the building industry still shows a positive value. There is certainly still ample demand for construction-related products. However, optimism is waning, and EU contractors started to express a little scepticism about the development of their order books. In addition, the building materials sector's confidence indicator entered negative territory for the first time. However, compared to the building sector, this industry is generally more susceptible to economic shocks.
