The rapidly ongoing integration process of the European national economies has led to a steep increase in the demand for well-grounded analyses and forecasts of the economic development in Europe, not only at an aggregate level, but also for sectors and industries.
More than 30 years ago, research and consulting institutes with specific know-how in the construction sector joined together in order to prepare and present differentiated and harmonised analyses and forecasts for this key sector of each economy. The Ifo institute is one of the 4 founding member and German partner institute. The EUROCONSTRUCT network now contains partner institutes in 15 western and 4 central-eastern European countries; moreover additional information on further eastern European countries is available.
At the centre of the EUROCONSTRUCT activities are conferences, organised twice a year at changing European cities by the national partner institute, with the focus on the cyclical development of construction activity and on further topics with direct relevance for the construction sector. In addition to these conferences, common research projects (e.g. for the European Commission or national administrative bodies) are undertaken; concerning concrete issues there is an animated change of ideas and information between the partner institutes.
Based on the conviction that the best-grounded estimates of differentiated sector specific developments are made by national institutions, each partner institute within the EUROCONSTRUCT network makes analysis and (cyclical) forecasts for the construction sector of its own country. The basis for this work is a set of standardised tables (PDF, 33 KB) for social and macroeconomic developments and, at the centre, for construction activity in value and quantitative figures with fine differentiations regarding subsections and categories of construction works as well as types of buildings.
The construction forecasts for Germany are based on the forecasts for construction investment in the sectors residential construction and private and public non-residential construction actualised via a method-mix. Corresponding to the practice in Europe (and world-wide), several regroupings and additional differentiation's for new work and repair and maintenance and for different types of buildings are necessary; the number of completed dwellings has to be estimated and forecasted consistently.
The contribution for Germany to the EUROCONSTRUCT conferences is based on the construction volume calculated by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW). Besides data on the German System of National Accounts and on the official statistics of construction activity (housing completions in types of buildings) are taken into account. For the breakdown of construction value, additional data and information about construction output (e.g. construction turnover) as well as further non official data are used.
The results of the EUROCONSTRUCT work prepared for the conferences are presented in two English conference volumes which could be purchased from the Ifo Institute: Country reports for the 19 European and some additional countries in Europe; aggregations for western and central-eastern Europe in a Summary report for the construction subsectors and for total construction activity as well as housing completions. (Order form, PDF, 35 KB)
The 72nd EUROCONSTRUCT Conference took place on 9 November 2011 in Paris. For details click here
Results of the EUROCONSTRUCT conferences (in German) are published regularly in ifo Schnelldienst:
Auch 2012 kein Anstieg der europäischen Bauleistungen – nur der Wohnungsbau dürfte zulegen: Ausgewählte Ergebnisse der Euroconstruct-Winterkonferenz 2011 Ludwig Dorffmeister, in: ifo Schnelldienst 02/2012, p. 33-39 | Download (PDF, 516 KB, in German).
Visit the website of Euroconstruct for informations on forthcoming conferences and partner organisations: www.euroconstruct.org
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