Housing construction in Europe: a renewed decline after a short recovery

Housing construction in Europe is experiencing a particularly stubborn phase of weak activity. True, a slight recovery was recorded in 2003 and 2004; the number of completed units in new residential buildings is likely to increase by more than 2.2 million units in 2004 (nearly an 8% increase over 2001) in the 15 western European and 4 eastern European countries of the Euroconstruct group. However, already for 2005 a strong drop of the completions of single homes is predicted that will not be offset by the renewed slight rise in units in new residential buildings. The outlook for 2006 calls for stagnation for both building categories at low levels.