Orders for buildings grow for the first … – Business Journal – Portugal

Orders for buildings grow for the first … – Business Journal – Portugal

Orders for buildings grow for the first time in eight years

After four years of decline, the orders index for buildings and public works is growing again. The home building segment made a positive contribution, which has not happened since 2006.

Last year, rebounded orders for the construction of buildings. You must go back to 2006 to find a positive trend in this index:. Eight years ago

The new orders index for the construction of buildings rose 12.7% in the last four quarters (2014), according to data released this Friday, February 20, the National Statistics Institute (INE). It is a reversal of the negative behavior that had come to characterize this construction segment in recent years.

Even though this annual advance, the index has not reached the levels of 2012. In other words, only improved from the previous year, not coming to retrieve what is was destroying the industry at least since 2001.

This INE study relatively new orders intended to give information on the evolution of demand for products and services in the sector, based on data as the licensing works or launching tenders.

In addition to the construction of buildings, the national statistics office also looks at new orders for engineering works such as points and viaducts. In this case, the evolution 2014 was positive (3.3%), a reduction in the rate already in 2013 was advances (15.5%). Thus, the segment is above the 2012 order levels but below what was practiced in previous years.

With the positive contribution of construction and also the public areas, 2014 was a positive year for the general index of new orders in construction and public works, which gained 7.3% after falling 7.8% in 2013. There was a rise of these orders of the overall index for four years. However, the achieved value is still lower than in 2012.

The building was one of the hardest hit sectors in recent years (which led many industry to go international), particularly since the beginning of adjustment program (which froze investments) and managed to increase the number of new orders in 2014, during which the Portuguese economy emerged from recession with an increase of 0.9% of gross domestic product.