Construction - June 2008

 
In June 2008 seasonally adjusted total construction output at constant prices was down by 0.2%, compared with the previous month. In comparison to June 2007, output at constant prices decreased by 2.8%. The planning and building control authorities granted 11 083 building permits, i.e. by 15.9% more year-on-year. Approximate value of permitted constructions increased by 43.3% year-on-year and reached CZK 40.6 billion.
Seasonally adjusted total construction output at constant prices dropped by 0.2% month-on-month. The trend increased by 0.1% month-on-month (see Table 3). 
Total construction output at constant prices decreased by 2.8% year-on-year. The fall was most affected by new building construction. ^*) The volume of work on repair and maintenance, especially of transport infrastructure, grew.
 
Contracted construction work carried out by construction enterprises with 20+ employees decreased by 3.4% year-on-year at constant prices. New construction, reconstruction and modernisation recorded a 5.9% decrease (contribution -5.0 percentage points), of which building construction fell by 8.0% (contribution -4.2 p.p.) and civil engineering decreased by 2.5% (contribution -0.8 p.p.). Construction work abroad recorded a 14.5% fall (contribution -0.6 p.p.). Increases were registered for repair and maintenance (by 22.0%, contribution 2.1 p.p.) and other work (by 17.1%, contribution 0.1 p.p.).
 
The number of employees in construction enterprises with 20+ employees dropped by 1.2% ^**) against June 2007. The average monthly nominal wage of employees increased by 13.0% year-on-year and reached CZK 23 860 (real wage increased by 5.9%). The average hourly wage grew by 13.3% year-on-year and stood at CZK 155. Labour productivity per employee dropped by 2.2% and labour productivity per hour worked decreased by 1.8%.
 
The planning and building control authorities granted 11 083 building permits in June 2008 (+15.9% year-on-year); 6 311 permits were for new constructions and 4 772 for renewals and enhancements. As for new constructions, year-on-year increases were registered in building permits for environmental constructions (+49.3%), residential buildings (+20.6%), other constructions (+8.8%) and non-residential buildings (+6.6%). Permits for renewals and enhancements of residential buildings rose by 12.1%. The increase of building permits in total was due to the low comparative basis of last year when building permits fell by 643 between May and June 2007.
       
Approximate value of constructions permitted in June 2008 grew by 43.3% year-on-year and reached CZK 40.6 billion. The new construction is valued at CZK 32.0 billion (up by 57.1%, contribution 41.0 p.p.). The renewals and enhancements will make available constructions worth CZK 8.6 billion (up by 8.2%, contribution 2.3 p.p.).
 
Compared to June 2007, approximate value of new construction grew in all types of constructions. Approximate value grew in new environmental constructions (more than three times, contribution 7.6 p.p.), other constructions (twice, contribution 15.9 p.p.), residential buildings (+46.0%, contribution 11.1 p.p.) and non-residential buildings (+21.5%, contribution 6.4 p.p.). The growth of approximate value in environmental constructions resulted from the very low comparative basis of June 2007, the increase of other constructions was due to financially demanding road and highway projects. The total increase of approximate value of renewals and enhancements was most affected by non-residential buildings (+41.3%, contribution 4.0 p.p.) and residential buildings (+26.9%, contribution 2.0 p.p.).
 
The planning and building control authorities permitted the construction of 4 513 dwellings, which was by 1 144 dwellings more (+34.0%) than in June 2007. Out of that, 3 976 dwellings (+1 081 dwellings) will be obtained by new construction and 537 dwellings (+63 dwellings) by renewals and enhancements. Approximate value of newly permitted dwellings in multi-dwelling buildings was CZK 10.6 billion. The planning and building control authorities permitted the construction of buildings with a floor space of 963.4 thousand m ² (+12.6%); floor space of residential buildings increased by 25.6% (contribution 12.5 p.p.) and of non-residential buildings by 0.2% (contribution 0.1 p.p.). The average floor space of a newly constructed dwelling was 124.7 m ² and the approximate value was CZK 20.3 thousand per m ². 
According to Eurostat News Release, WDA construction output in the EU27 was up by 0.7% year-on-year in May 2008; building construction increased by 0.7% and civil engineering grew by 2.1%. Among the EU member states for which data were available, the highest increases were observed in Romania (+31.5%), Poland (+16.3%) and Slovakia (+8.3%). The highest decrease was registered in Spain (‑10.8%). Germany reported a decrease of 1.4%.

Analysis - Analysis of the construction sector in the second quarter of 2008  

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Notes
Contact: Vladimir 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:       1 August 2008
End of data processing:    6 August 2008
Related publications:         /1-ep-8
8201-08 Construction in the Czech Republic
8202-08 Building Notices Received and Building Permits Granted
 
The data in Table 1 for April, May and June 2008 are preliminary and will be updated with the data release for July 2008.
The data in Table 2 are final.

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*) Other observed statistical indicators (construction work carried out by companies' own workers) make us think that the decrease in construction output in last two months was, among other things, affected by the difference in time between output itself and invoicing (which increases the number of unfinished projects).
**) Employment indicators are observed for construction enterprises with 20+ employees. The average registered number of employees does not include agency workers.