The Royal Insitute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) believes there are tentative reasons to expect the pace of decline in output in the European construction sector may begin to slow. But in the near term the outlook remains bleak with output likely to fall further as the wider economic downturn in the euro area continues to exacerbate the sitiation.
The Royal Insitute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) believes there are tentative reasons to expect the pace of decline in output in the European construction sector may begin to slow. But in the near term the outlook remains bleak with output likely to fall further as the wider economic downturn in the euro area continues to exacerbate the sitiation.
Economic growth fell by 1.5% in the fourth quarter of 2008 and unemployment is rising sharply. RICS says, with sentiment at the lowest level since November 2007, according to the European Commission’s monthly survey. In February output fell by 0.7% on the month, taking the annual growth rate to -8.9%, slightly above the 9.2% annual fall recorded in December 2008.
RICS bases its guarded optimism on indications that the pace of tightening of overall credit conditions has slowed. RICS also says key macro indicators in the Eurozone, such as Germany’s IFO survey, have been edging upwards recently. The pace of decline in construction output at a country level has also started to slow in France and Spain - a market that was sent reeling in 2007 - by the bursting of its residential property bubble.
