Encouraging News – Construction Works Increased by More Than 8 Percent Year-on-Year in February

The volume of construction works in Croatia in February this year increased by 3.2 percent compared to January, and by 8.3 percent compared to February last year, according to data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS).

The DZS report shows that, according to seasonally adjusted data, the year-on-year growth of construction works in February was influenced by a 15.6 percent increase in their volume on buildings, while on other constructions it increased by 1.5 percent.

According to original indices, in February this year compared to February 2015, the volume of construction works is higher by 9.4 percent. In this context, the volume of works on buildings increased by 16.7 percent, while on other constructions it is higher by 2.5 percent.

A comparison of the first two months of this year with the same period last year according to original indices shows a growth in the volume of construction works by 3.8 percent.

According to the structure of hours worked on construction sites, in February this year, 49.2 percent of hours were worked on buildings, and 50.8 percent on other constructions. Of the total number of hours worked, 55.6 percent were on new construction, and 44.4 percent on other works.

During the first two months of this year, workers spent 49 percent of their working hours on buildings and 51 percent on other constructions. At the same time, 55.5 percent of working hours were related to new construction, and 44.5 percent to other works.

– The data related to construction in the first two months of this year is encouraging: in addition to the growth in the volume of construction activity, there is also a significant increase in the number of issued building permits (by 27.3 percent year-on-year) and the values of the planned works contained in them (by 7.2 percent). The sustainability of such growth will be tested already with the data for March when the impact of the base effect, i.e., low achievements in the first two months of last year, will be lost, said Zvonimir Savić, director of the Sector for Financial Institutions, Business Information, and Economic Analysis of the Croatian Chamber of Economy, in his commentary on the DZS data.