Construction activity continued growing in Spain in December although the rate of growth slowed considerably in comparison with previous months. The sector grew by 1.6% year-on-year in December which contrasted with the contraction which was seen in both the European Union and the Eurozone where activity fell by 0.5% and 3.5% respectively.
Prior to December the Spanish construction sector had strung together some very impressive year-on-year growth stats with 13.9% growth registered for October and 15.9% for November. Even though the December data is not as impressive it still outperforms the EU and Eurozone average and is also still a positive statistic.
The EU countries which saw the highest year-on-year growth in their construction sectors for December were Romania with 15%, Sweden: 9.4% and Poland: 4.8%. At countries which recorded the largest contractions for the month were Slovenia: -9.8, Czech Republic: -7.8 and France -7.5%.
Most experts predict that construction statistics will stabilise in 2015 with an increase in construction in areas where new-build property is now scarce such as Barcelona, Madrid, the Costa del Sol and areas of the Costa Blanca. Higher numbers of properties undergoing renovation will also boost the construction sector.
