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. 

Bogdan Doicescu, CEO, Bog’Art Holding Management, spoke to Property Forum about the company’s expansion of its public works portfolio and the significant growth potential of the construction industry in the next period.

Hungary's construction sector showed a spectacular rebound in April, with output volumes up 11% on the previous month, completely making up for the feeble performance of the previous two months. The production figures in recent months for a sector in fundamentally poor shape are far from tragic, nor are the order books figures, but we are seeing such huge month-to-month fluctuations that it is very difficult to assess what is happening in the construction sector.

In 2023, the share of imported construction materials in the Ukrainian market rose to 23% (compared to 14% in 2021). Experts note that the domestic construction materials market requires systematic support from the government. Iryna Nastych summarised the current situation in the Ukrainian construction materials market in an article prepared by the Ukrainian Real Estate Club for Property Forum.

Bulgaria is recording a slowdown of EU funds’ absorption, which could limit new investments in infrastructure and the energy efficiency of the building stock, according to research by the Eastern European Construction Forecasting Association (EECFA).

The value of construction works launched in three months rose in Q1 2024, Activity-Start hasn’t been so high in the last six quarters. EBI Construction Activity Report Q1 2024 measured the total value of started construction works at HUF 807 billion. Looking at the period between 2018 and 2023, there were very only five quarters when Activity-Start surpassed this number. At constant prices, Q1 2024 was also considered good when looking at the period since June 2022. Nevertheless, when compared to the period between 2018 and H1 2022, it fell into the lower range.

The WING Liget Center multi-building development will involve not only the reconstruction of two buildings listed as historic monuments – serving as the main offices for TV channel RTL – but a brand-new boutique office building named Liget Center Vitrum will also be completed in the autumn. Construction is proceeding on schedule, and the Vitrum building is now structurally complete. Vitrum is a nearly zero energy building and will offer a total of 2,200 square metres of leasable office space over six floors. The building will be handed over in its shell and core stage in autumn 2024.

Romania saw new construction volumes expand by 64% in 2023 compared to the previous year, reaching also a record in gross value and growth rate from the past decade, according to the EBI Construction Activity Report.

Latest technological innovations may cut time and cost significantly in preparing real estate projects. Property Forum asked Béla Markovich, CEO of construction giant Mapei’s Hungarian subsidiary about the ways the company uses VR and AI to reach higher efficiency and about R+D activity to produce eco-friendly construction materials.

Construction is one of the riskiest industries in terms of payment morale. According to data from Coface, the number of insolvencies in the Czech construction industry is growing, reaching its peak only in the second half of the year 2024.