Construction industry has done its best
The Hungarian construction industry closed a strong month in September, which - apart from the sudden stop caused by the pandemic - contributed to economic growth in the recent years and it reached outstanding results also on international level and the sector could be relied on also in the permanent growth after the pandemic.
In September construction industry achieved a good rate of growth and the production of the sector has increased by 14.2 per cent on an annual basis and by more than 4 per cent on a monthly basis.
Two-digit surplus this year
“Although there were such months in this year in which production has declined compared to the previous month, production of the sector moves mostly in the right direction, partly as a result of the low reference performance due to the epidemic. The September figures show that the sector is in full swing and it is proved also by the fact that its growth was 10.5 per cent in the first nine months of the year”- commented the figures Tamás Vida, CEO of KÉSZ Group.
As a whole, construction industry plays an important role in the economic boom after the shock caused by the epidemic. On the longer run, it is also evident that the Hungarian construction industry has exceeded the 2015 level - according to the figures with seasonal and working day adjustment - since the summer of 2018 and it is an outstanding success on EU level as well.
Favorable prospects
The increasing role of the construction industry in economic growth is evident also from the fact that in 2017, 2018 and 2019 the gross added value of construction industry increased by 13-21 per cent compared to the previous years and then the series of success has suddenly stopped due to the epidemic. After easing of pandemic-related uncertainty and the trouble in raw material supply, despite the higher construction producer's prices, a permanent expansion can be expected in the sector again, so it might support the increase in GDP on the longer run.
The problems mentioned will hopefully be provisional and, in the opinion of Tamás Vida, the current prospects are favorable. The inclination to construct and the demand give cause for being optimistic. In late September the volume of contracts of construction enterprises exceeded that in the previous year by near 13 per cent. From among the sub-sectors the volume of contracts for construction of buildings and those for construction of other structures exceeded that in the previous year by 21.4 and 7.7 per cent, respectively.
In the future, in addition to the infrastructure development projects based on EU and State resources, home building and building constructions are expected to assist development. KÉSZ Group thinks that the capacities built in the successful years before the pandemic are expected to keep the increased pace, however, with difficulties, in the following period.