After more than a year of growth, construction production in the Czech Republic fell by 2.7 percent year-on-year in real terms in July this year. According to revised data, it grew by 1.5 percent in June. This follows from the data published today by the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ). In July, land and engineering construction weakened.
Production in the construction industry grew for 14 months in a row until July. However, since March of this year, production has been gradually slowing down. Even in February, year-on-year growth reached almost 17 percent, while in March it was less than nine percent.
In building construction, i.e. construction of buildings, production decreased by 2.1 percent in July compared to last year. In engineering construction, which includes the construction of roads or telecommunications and energy networks, production fell even more significantly, by four percent. “We also recorded a month-on-month decrease in both segments,” said Petra Cuřínová, head of the ČSÚ’s construction and housing statistics department. Overall, construction output in July decreased by 2.9 percent in real terms month-on-month.
July brought a year-on-year decrease in the number of building permits issued as well as in the number of started and completed apartment constructions. Building authorities issued 6,936 permits in July, which was 9.2 percent less than last year. The indicative value of permitted buildings also decreased compared to July 2021, by 61 percent to CZK 34.6 billion.
According to statistics, the significant year-on-year decrease in the value of buildings is mainly due to the fact that building permits were issued last July for large-scale engineering works, mainly metro D in Prague. “After deducting billion-dollar buildings, this is a tenth of a decrease,” added Drahomíra Dušková from the CZSO’s Department of Construction and Housing Statistics.
The number of apartment construction starts in July fell by 28.6 percent year-on-year to 2,726 apartments. The number of completed apartments also decreased compared to last year. It fell by six percent to 2,755 apartments.
The average registered number of employees in the construction industry, on the other hand, increased year-on-year in July, but only very slightly, by 0.1 percent. The average gross monthly salary of employees in the construction industry rose by 7.6 percent year-on-year.
Source: ČSÚ and CTK
