Romania's construction industry reaches new record driven by public projects

Romania's construction industry gained momentum this year, by 13.2% y/y in January-August, particularly driven by public projects, data published by the statistics office INS reveal.

Over the past four years - since before the COVID-19 crisis, Romania's construction activity expanded by 46% (nearly +10% per year on average), judging from the January-August data.

The civil engineering segment rose the most (+60%), followed by the residential segment (+60%), while the non-residential buildings sector posted the weakest performance (+24%).

In January-August this year, the volume of civil engineering works (public projects) expanded by 34.4% y/y. The residential building projects lost momentum after impressive performances in the past and generated 6.8% less activity than in the same period last year. The inhomogeneous non-residential building segment (industrial, logistic, retail, office) edged up a modest 1.2% y/y.

August marked a new record for the Romanian construction industry after each of its three segments advanced compared to July.

Overall, the construction activity was 19.3% more intense than last year, but the civil engineering works surged by 40.9% y/y, while the residential buildings segment contracted by 8.7% y/y and the non-residential buildings segment advanced by 7.7% y/y.

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