Investment in construction slows in Q2

Investment in construction slowed in the second quarter of 2023 but nevertheless still increased 3.3% like-for-like on the previous quarter.

According to the Portuguese Association of Civil Construction and Public Works Industries (AICCOPN) stated this week that “regarding investment in construction there was a slowdown in like-for-like terms on Q2, 2022 despite a 3.3% increase QoQ.
The association also said that as to Gross Added Value, the construction sector saw an 0.8% increase like-for-like on 2022 and 0.4% on the first quarter of the year.
AICCOPN also revealed that the total number of planning licences issued by municipal councils in the first six months of 2023 was down 10.4% in like-for-like terms, and a reduction of 11.3% in licences for housing projects and a fall of 7.5% in non-residential buildings.
As to new build projects there was an increase of 2.9% in like-for-like terms to a total of 16,462 new homes.
In terms of the level of new credit lent by financial institutions for housing projects, this stood at €10,662 million, corresponding to an increase of 9.7% for the same period in 2022, although the stock of credit lent to construction companies fell 5.3% in July like-for-like on the same month in 2022.
However, when it came to construction for public works projects, the number of tenders from construction companies in competitions rose 72.4% in like-for-like terms while the number of signed contracts registered on the government’s Portal Base web platform rose 34.7% like-for-like on 2022.
Interestingly, the amount of cement consumed in the Portuguese market in H1 of 2023 totalled 2.3 million tonnes, remaining the same as the comparative six months in 2022.