The growth in output of Spain’s construction sector was the biggest in the EU in November, show the latest figures from Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office.
Spanish construction activity increased 15.9 per cent in November, compared to the same month the previous year.
The average increase in the EU was 2.5 per cent, and 2.2 per cent in the Eurozone.
The Eurozone increase was no thanks to the civil engineering sector, which suffered a decrease of 0.5 per cent.
For its part, the 2.5 per cent rise in the EU as a whole was thanks to a 3.3 per cent increase in construction, which offset the fall of 0.5 per cent in civil engineering.
Year on year, Spain was number one for growth, followed by Sweden (+12.5 per cent) and Hungary (+8.8 per cent). The countries with the biggest falls were Slovenia (-11.2 per cent), Italy (-7.9 per cent), and Portugal (-5.7 per cent)
Spanish construction also grew on a monthly basis, up 2.2 per cent, in contrast with a 0.1 per cent fall in the Eurozone.
This is good news for the Spanish construction sector, but it should be pointed out that these high growth figures have only been achieved from a very low base after Spain’s real estate bust all but wiped out the building industry.