Czech construction will grow for the third consecutive year this year

Prague – The Czech construction industry is likely to grow for the third consecutive year this year. According to analysts contacted by ČTK, it will rise by three to four percent year-on-year. Last year, construction increased by 9.2 percent, the most since 2003. Analysts point out that this year the sector faced a shortage of workers and complicated building permits.

"Although this year will not be as successful for builders as last year, they still did not have much to complain about. Construction prices continued to rise rapidly, and there were plenty of new contracts. The ongoing problem remained a lack of workforce. The slowdown of the domestic economy will also begin to gradually manifest in construction," said Komerční banka analyst Jana Steckerová.

According to a survey by CEEC Research, construction companies in the Czech Republic have secured contracts on average for ten months ahead, with large companies having a minimum annual turnover of 200 million crowns per year. About 30 percent of companies report a longer period than last year, while one-fifth mention a shortening of this period.

According to the latest available data, construction increased overall by 1.7 percent over ten months. Ground construction, primarily the construction of apartments, offices, or industrial halls and warehouses, increased by 0.9 percent. Civil engineering, mainly consisting of transport infrastructure, rose by 3.8 percent.

"The final figure for the entire year is primarily influenced by the weather, especially at the end of the year. So far, this autumn ranks among the warmer ones, and the latest Czech data shows that the number of issued permits is slowly starting to increase. There is hope that the total volume of construction activity will rise by more than two percent for the entire year," added Natland analyst Petr Bartoň. He identified the complicated system of issuing building permits as a brake on construction.

According to data from the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ), 376,445 employees and entrepreneurs worked in construction companies in the Czech Republic at the end of the first half of the year, an increase of 0.9 percent year-on-year. Compared to the same period of the pre-crisis year 2008, their number was lower by about one-tenth. This year, in the second quarter, there was the sixth-lowest number recorded in the 20 years that ČSÚ has been collecting this data.

The average wage in construction at the end of the first half of the year increased by 6.3 percent year-on-year to 29,186 crowns. Compared to the national average, it was 14.4 percent lower.

Year-on-year change in the performance of Czech construction (in percent):

Year	Index	Ground	Civil
2001	10.4	10.5	10.0
2002	3.0	2.7	4.3
2003	9.3	5.5	21.6
2004	8.8	7.4	12.9
2005	5.2	4.9	5.8
2006	6.0	5.0	8.8
2007	7.1	10.7	-2.1
2008	0	-3.5	9.9
2009	-0.9	-6.9	14.1
2010	-7.4	-7.6	-7.2
2011	-3.6	-0.4	-9.7
2012	-7.6	-6.5	-10.0
2013	-6.7	-5.6	-9.3
2014	4.3	3.4	6.4
2015	6.9	2.6	17.1
2016	-5.6	-0.8	-15.8
2017	3.3	6.3	-4.1
2018	9.2	9.1	9.3
2019	1.7	0.9	3.8

Source: ČSÚ

Note: In 2019, this is a summary figure for the first ten months.