Dynamic Recovery in European Construction

The European construction industry declined significantly at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, although the losses were lower than expected a year ago. It turned out that the construction industry was less affected by the COVID-19 crisis than the economy as a whole and that its recovery path was much more favourable. As a result, in 2021 the construction volume in the 19th Euroconstruct countries increased significantly (+5.6 percent) and reached a volume of 1,740 billion € at the end of the year. Thus, already in the first year after the start of the pandemic, the pre-crisis volume in the year 2019 was surpassed. It is expected that the upswing will continue, albeit with decreasing momentum, over the entire forecast period until 2024, with civil engineering in particular having a stimulating effect from 2022. Compared to the average of the Euroconstruct countries, growth in the Austrian construction industry in 2021 was relatively low (+5.4 percent). However, the slump in construction output in 2020 was also below average. The strongest increase in construction activity in 2021 was in non-residential construction (e.g., industrial, office, commercial buildings); however, although there was a clear catch-up effect (+8.0 percent) after 2020 (–8.6 percent), the pre-crisis level was not yet reached. Also, the more crisis-resistant civil engineering and residential construction benefitted from the dynamic development and the positive business climate in the construction sector according to the WIFO-Konjunkturtest (business cycle survey).