Construction - June 2007

Seasonally adjusted total construction output at constant prices decreased by 0.2% in June 2007, compared to May 2007. In comparison to June 2006, output at constant was down by 4.4%. The planning and building control authorities granted 9 560 building permits, which was by 21.5% less year-on-year. Approximate value of permitted constructions reached CZK 28.3 billion and increase by 7,3 % year–on-year.  
Seasonally adjusted total construction output at constant prices dropped by 0.2% month-on-month. The trend decreased by 0.5% month-on-month (see Table 3).  
After thirteen months of incessant growth total construction output at constant prices decreased by 4.4%; WDA decrease was 3.0% (June 2007 was by 1 working day shorter). The decrease in construction output in June was affected by:
-         a high growth of construction output in June 2006 (+10.0%)
-         increasing shortage of skilled building workers
-         problems in the market of certain building materials       
      
Contracted construction work carried out by construction enterprises with 20+ employees fell by 4.7% year-on-year at constant prices. New construction, reconstruction and modernisation recorded a 4.0% decrease (contribution -3.4 percentage points), of which building construction grew by 0.1% (contribution 0.1 p.p.) and civil engineering works fell by 9.8% (contribution -3.5 p.p.). Repair and maintenance fell by 19.5% (contribution -2.2 p.p.). Other work recorded a drop of 47.2% (contribution –0.3 p.p.). Construction work abroad grew by 53.3% (contribution 1.2 p.p.).
          
The number of employees in construction enterprises with 20+ employees dropped by 2.2% ^*) against June 2006. The average monthly nominal wage of employees increased by 3.4% year-on-year and reached CZK 21 124 (the real wage rose by 0.9%). Average hourly wage grew by 9.0% year-on-year and stood at CZK 137. Labour productivity per employee decreased by 2.6% and labour productivity per hour worked grew by 2.7%.
 
The planning and building control authorities granted 9 560 ^**) building permits in June 2007 (of which 5 258 for new constructions and 4 302 for renewals and enhancements). The number of building permits granted fell by 21.5% year-on-year.
 
Approximate value of constructions permitted in June 2007 increased by 7.3% in comparison to June 2006 and reached CZK 28.3 billion. New construction is valued at CZK 20.3 billion (up by 18.4%, contribution 12.0 p.p.). Renewals and enhancements will make available constructions worth CZK 8.0 billion (down by 13.4%, contribution -4.7 p.p.). The increase in approximate value of new construction is due to building permits for non-residential buildings (up by 74.3%, contribution 13.6 p.p.). They were especially building permits for financially demanding trade and office buildings and industrial buildings. Residential buildings recorded a decrease of 5.2% (contribution -1.4 p.p.).
 
The planning and building control authorities permitted the construction of 3 369 dwellings, which was by 334 dwellings fewer (-9.0%) than in June 2006. Out of that, 2 895 dwellings (down by 122) will be obtained by new construction and 474 dwellings (down by 212) by renewals and enhancements. The approximate value of newly permitted dwellings in multi-dwelling buildings was CZK 7.2 billion.
The planning and building control authorities permitted also construction of buildings with a floor space of 855.8 thousand m ² (+25.9%), of which floor space of residential buildings increased by 2.5% and of non-residential buildings rose by 61.0%. The average floor space of a newly constructed dwelling was 136.9 m ² and approximate value was CZK 17.4 thousand per m ². 
According to Eurostat News Release, the WDA index of construction output in the EU27 grew by 1.9% y-o-y in May 2007, of which building construction by 2.3% and civil engineering works by 1.3%. Among the EU member states for which data were available, the highest increases were observed in Slovenia (+48.7%), Romania (+27.6%), Poland (+16.0%) and Slovakia (+5.3%). The highest decreases were recorded in Portugal (-4.9%) and Germany (-2.7%). 

Analysis - Analysis of the construction sector – second quarter of 2007

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Note
Contact:                                Vladimír Zikmund, phone (+420) 274054252, e-mail: vladimir.zikmund@csu.gov.cz
Data source:                        CZSO direct survey in enterprises with 20+ employees and in planning and building control authorities
End of data collection:       6 August 2007
End of data processing:    9 August 2007
Related publications:        /1-ep-8
8201-07 Construction
8202-07 Building Permits Granted
 
Data in Table 1 for April, May and June 2007 are preliminary and will be updated when data for July 2007 are released.
Data in Table 2 are final.

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*) Employment indicators are observed in construction enterprises with 20+ employees. The average registered number of employees does not include agency workers.
**) On 1 January 2007, a new Act No. 183/2006 Sb., on Territorial Planning and Building Code (the Building Act), was brought in. It newly resolves, especially in Sections 103 and 104, the problem of “granting building permits”. This new Act may have an impact on absolute values in time series covering new construction and renewals and enhancements, particularly the numbers of building permits and corresponding approximate values for non-residential buildings, environmental constructions and other constructions.