"The volume of construction industry output in Hungary grew by 3% month-on-month in October, faster than in any of the previous 5 months, the Central Statistics Office reported today. This alleviated the impact of a major year-on-year slump despite the high 2007 base. The trend could be seen even as mildly promising, however orders remain disappointingly low.The output of Hungary's construction industry dropped by 20.1 percent in October in annual terms in unadjusted figures, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Tuesday.
The fall slowed from September when output declined by 25.7 percent, however it still indicates a major slump in the industry.
In the January-October period construction output fell by 11.5 percent.
CSO said the volume of contracts valid at the end of October fell by 34.5 percent year-on-year; a figure that arose as the combined result of a 3.1% decline in the building construction sector while other construction industry orders tumbled by a striking 51.9%.
though in October alone a low base and contracts for commercial and industrial buildings and two Budapest underground stations lifted the volume of new contracts by 41.8 percent year-on-year.
The light at the end of the tunnel is indicated by a 44.3% jump in new orders received by construction companies in October compared with a year earlier, with building construction orders soaring by 46.7% while other projects boosted new orders by 41.8%. However, CSO noted that the promising figures are mostly due to the low statistical base as well as the contracts for two subway stations as part of Budapest's Metro 4 project, in addition to commercial and industrial buildings. Overall, contracts fell 14% in the first 10 months of the year compared with the corresponding months of 2006.
The volume of structures completed in October signals a 26.5% slump year-on-year, with the 10-month total from January to October down 16.6%. In October, building construction output declined by 19.5% while the volume of other construction industry sectors fell 20.9% (both unadjusted figures). In the first 10 months of 2007 the output of these two branches of the industry saw a decline of 8.1% and 15.7%, respectively."
Source: Portfolio Online Financial Journal
19.12.2007