Brussels – According to Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office, in May, construction output in the eurozone grew by 0.4 per cent compared with April and by 0.3 per cent in the European Union. The year-on-year figures were higher: compared with May 2025, construction output grew by 1.2 per cent in the eurozone and by 1.8 per cent in the EU. Specifically, production in the construction sector of the eurozone and the EU fell by 0.7 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively for buildings, by 0.5 and 1.3 per cent respectively for civil engineering, but increased by 1.4 per cent for specialised construction activities in both cases.
Among the Member States for which data are available, the largest monthly increases in construction sector output were recorded in Austria (+3.3 per cent), the Netherlands (+2.0 per cent), and France (+1.3 per cent). The largest decreases were observed in Hungary (-6.4 per cent), Spain (-2.8 per cent), and Slovenia (-1.9 per cent).
By contrast, in a year-on-year comparison the figures for May 2026 are higher: compared with the same month in 2025, in the euro area output in building construction fell by 6.6 per cent, output in civil engineering rose by 3.5 per cent, and output in specialised construction activities rose by 2.9 per cent. In the EU, output in residential construction fell by 5.2 per cent, while output in civil engineering rose by 2.3 per cent and that in specialised construction activities also increased by 3.3 per cent.
The highest annual increases in output in the construction sector were recorded in Slovenia (+19.2 per cent), Slovakia (+10.0 per cent), and Finland (+9.4 per cent). Decreases were observed in Spain (-10.0 per cent), Hungary (-6.7 per cent), and France (-0.7 per cent).
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
