Hungary construction sector edges down 0.8% yr/yr in December

Output of Hungary's construction sector was down 0.8% in December from the same month a year earlier, the Central Statistics Office (KSH) said on Wednesday.

Output of the building segment fell 11% year-on-year, while output of the civil engineering segment rose 12.5% in the twelve months to December 2011.

In a month-on-month comparison, construction sector output declined 4.1% according to seasonally- and workday-adjusted figures in December after growing 7.3% in November. Output of the building segment fell an adjusted 5.6% from November and civil engineering output rose 0.9% from the previous month as output of organisations in the road and railway building segment rose more than 50% from an extremely low base, KSH noted.

Construction sector output fell 7.8% in January-December from the same period a year earlier after a 10.4% decline in the full year of 2010.

In the entire year 2011, output in the building segment fell 11.3% and output of the civil engineering segment was down 3.8%.

New orders were up 10.5% in December from twelve months earlier in the second twelve-month rise registered since June 2010. New orders in the building segment rose for the first time since September 2010 and were up 10.4% from December 2010. New civil engineering orders were up 10.6% after rising at a similar rate in November, which followed four months of yr/yr declines.

Total contracts held by the sector were still down by 42.5% yr/yr in volume terms as the stock of orders for buildings was down 46.9% and the stock of civil engineering orders dropped 39.7%.

Hungary's construction sector output fell every year since 2006.