Eurozone construction output pushes higher

Eurozone construction output nudged higher in July, official data showed on Wednesday, following gains in the bloc’s major economies.

According to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics office, seasonally-adjusted production in the construction sector rose by 0.8%, reversing much of June’s 1.2% fall.

Across the wider bloc, production rose 0.7% compared to a 1.0% decline in June.

Year-on-year, production increased by 1.0% in the Eurozone in July and by 0.9% across the EU.

Among member states, Germany – the bloc’s biggest economy – saw production in construction rise 2.6%, compared to a 3.1% decline a month earlier.

In Spain it rose 1.2% and in France by 0.6%, following falls of 0.8% and 2.6% respectively a month previously. Italy’s output was not released.

Overall there was an 0.9% uptick in building construction while civil engineering eased 0.4%.

Claus Vistesen, chief Eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: “Overall, the strong start to the quarter leaves a carry-over – the change in third quarter production was unchanged in August and September – at just over zero, hinting at a better performance that the 1.2% quarter-on-quarter decline in the second quarter.

“Leading indicators, however, are uniformly pointing down, so we look for falling output in both August and September. In total we now think construction output will fall by around 0.5% quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter.”