Recovery in European residential constructionSelected results of the Euroconstruct winter conference of 2010

According to the analyses of the 19 country-institutes of the Euroconstruct network, home building in Europe is on a recovery course; the volume of European residential construction will increase again as of 2011. However, with a plus of only 3% per annum to 2013, on average, the recovery will be modest. The three Scandinavian countries in the group, Norway, Sweden and Finland, will experience a noticeably strong recovery. The more densely populated countries - Italy, Germany and Poland - should also display an above-average development. New residential construction will profit in particular from this positive development, a sector that had shrunk by 43% in the past four years. By the year 2013, the volume for new residential construction should increase by about 4½ a year, on average. The number of housing unit completions will recover far more slowly. After topping out in 2007 at ca. 2.55 million completed units, in 2013 only 1.54 million completed units are expected.