Eurozone construction output down on month, up on year in Sept

According to the preliminary data from Eurostat, seasonally adjusted production in the construction sector in the eurozone fell by 0.9% in September month on month while it increased by 1.8% on a yearly basis.

According to the data, the monthly decrease in September 2016 was mainly due to the fall in building construction (1.1%). The data also shows that Italy, Slovakia and Portugal recorded the largest decreases of 3.9%, 3.1% and 2.2% respectively in the production in construction while Slovenia, Poland and Sweden posted the largest increases respectively as 4%, 3.3% and 3.1% on a monthly basis.

The rise in production in construction in the eurozone on a yearly basis was mainly driven by an increase of 3.7% in civil engineering and 1.3% in building construction, the data reveals. Among the member states, Netherlands, Sweden and Spain recorded the largest increases in production in construction on a yearly basis with 7.8%, 6.1% and 3.9% respectively while Slovakia (17.9%), Poland (16.1%) and Hungary (13.2%) recorded the largest decreases year on year.