Construction works in Hungary started during H1 2024 fell by 11% compared to the same period of last year, according to the latest EBI Construction Activity Report prepared by Eltinga, Buildecon and iBuild.
Lowest quarterly value of started building construction works since 2020
Q1 2024 saw a high Activity-Start but was followed by Q2 that recorded a decline in buildings as well. The value of started building construction works did not reach HUF 360 billion - the lowest quarterly figure since 2020. Overall, the subsector was characterized by a weaker Activity-Start even in the first half of the year: compared to H1 2023, the value of started construction works dropped by 11.8%, while over the same period of 2022 and 2021, at current prices, the decline was almost 30% and 21.5%, respectively.
Most of the decline occurred owing to the more moderate non-residential project starts. The decrease in multi-unit residential buildings was much smaller and the value of started construction works was roughly at the level of Q1.
In non-residential buildings, Activity-Start was slightly higher than HUF 260 billion between April and June this year (a drop of almost 43% over Q1) but was also much lower than in the same period of the previous 3 years.
Biggest-league building construction projects launched in Q2 this year comprised the construction of MBH Bank HQ in Budapest, Phase I of BYD electric car factory in Szeged, and Huayou Cobalt-Bamo cathode factory in Ács. The construction of Moxy Budapest Downtown (hotel) and that of several multi-unit residential buildings also began.
The value of civil engineering project starts hit rock bottom in Q2
The stellar numbers in Q1 were followed by a massive decline in Civil Engineering Activity-Start of EBI Construction Activity Report Hungary between April and June this year. Q2 brought minimal civil engineering project starts, and the value of started works did not reach HUF 70 billion - the lowest quarterly value since 2016.
Most construction works continued to start in the capital city
Looking at the past 4 quarters, the largest share of construction works again started in Budapest. The capital city’s share in the nationwide Activity-Start even surpassed 40%. Northern Great Plain had the second largest share, but its 13% was a great drop compared to the 20%-30% of the previous quarters. Pest County came third with 12%, while the smallest share of projects started in Southern Transdanubia with only 5% of construction projects launched in the last 4 quarters.
No change in the value of started multi-unit residential projects
In the first half of this year, Activity-Start in the segment was less than HUF 200 billion, corresponding to the level of the same period in 2021.
The value of completed multi-unit residential construction works shrank in Q2 against Q1, but it stayed high, outstripping HUF 200 billion in H1 2024, making it the strongest first half year recently. Activity-Completion in H1 2024 was almost 42% higher than in the same period of 2023 and even surpassed the record H1 2020 by more than 22%.
During the last 4 quarters, the largest share of multi-unit residential construction works continued to start in Budapest whose share also grew compared to the previous quarter with two-thirds of Activity-Start. Eastern Hungary's share was 15.5%, while in Western Hungary 16.6% of such works began.
Southern Great Plain saw some growth in half-yearly Activity-Start
Activity-Start in Southern Great Plain amounted to HUF 126 billion between January and June 2024. Building construction projects contributed most to the Activity-Start of this region: the value of started construction works in H1 2024 was HUF 110 billion - the level of H1 2023. But it was also true for regional building constructions that the higher Q1 values pushed up the half-yearly ones and Q2 brought a more moderate Activity-Start. Within buildings, multi-unit residential buildings represented a minimal level in the region, as in previous years, only 6% of such projects nationwide started here in the first half of the year.
Meanwhile, Activity-Start in civil engineering in H1 2024 was less than HUF 16 billion - one of the lowest half-yearly results in recent years.
Civil engineering works in the region reached an outstanding value in late 2021 and in early 2022 that saw the construction start of the Békéscsaba-Lőkösháza railway line, the Soroksár-Kelebia section of the Budapest-Belgrade railway line, while the Kecskemét-Szentkirály section of M44 expressway is still under construction.
