European housing construction up to 2010 - crisis in the west and boom in the eastSelected results of the Euroconstruct summer conference 2008

After the bursting of the American bubble in real-estate prices last summer and the various resulting economic repercussions - not only for the domestic economy but also for the international financial markets and for global economic activity - the construction industry in Europe has now been severely affected, plunging especially European home building into a deep crisis. Increased mortgage interest rates, tighter credit conditions and falling house prices have led to a perceptible decline in home construction demand in many places. Especially the construction of new apartment buildings is likely to shrink by around 8 percent in 2008 - a decline of this order of magnitude has not been observed since the beginning of the 1990s. The effects on far-ranging sectors linked with housing construction will be serious.