Europe seeing strong growth in construction sector: Austrian institute

VIENNA, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- The construction sector in Europe is presently in a boom phase with growth in construction volume of 3.5 percent expected this year, the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) stated in a report on Friday.

Citing figures provided by partner, the construction network Euroconstruct, WIFO noted that this rate is the highest seen since the pre-financial crisis year 2006. The positive growth was seen across all 19 European member states of the Euroconstruct network.

This highlights the nature of the upswing as being broad-based in the wider European region, it added.

The trend is expected to carry on for the next few years, with growth in the construction sector in the 19 countries in question to grow a further six percent by 2020.

WIFO said the construction of housing and other above-ground buildings is particularly strong, with demand increasing in all countries. This is expected to weaken somewhat in the years ahead, with underground construction to become the primary driver of growth in the industry.

The independent Euroconstruct network involves 15 states from Western Europe, and four from Central and Eastern Europe. Enditem