UPDATE - Hungary construction sector decline slows to 12.3% in August

Output of Hungary's construction sector fell 12.3% in August from the same month a year earlier, dropping at a slower rate than the 15.4% yr/yr decline in July, the Central Statistics Office (KSH) said on Monday.

In a month-on-month comparison, output of the construction sector rose a seasonally- and workday-adjusted 1.6% after declining 0.7% in July. This was the third monthly increase this year.

Output of the building segment fell 21.5% year-on-year to HUF 80.1bn in August after falling 14.9% in July. Output of the civil engineering segment was down 2.6% to HUF 72.2bn after declining 18.3% in July.

The changes in the pace partly reflected base effects in both segments.

Output of the sector fell 10.9% in January-August from the same period a year earlier, after a 10.4% decline in the full year of 2010.

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

Stock of construction sector orders was down 37.0% at the end of August from twelve months earlier. Order stock was HUF 528.1bn at current prices.

The order stock for buildings was down 40.9% from a year earlier in volume terms at the end of August and was worth HUF 196.5bn. Total orders of the civil engineering segment fell 34.6% yr/yr and stood at HUF 331.6bn.

The value of new orders signed in August reached HUF 110.1bn, down 17.2% from twelve months earlier. New orders in the building segment were down 23.0% at HUF 54.8bn. New orders in the civil engineering segment fell 10.5% to HUF 55.3bn.

New orders in the building construction segment has been down yr/yr each month since October 2010. New civil engineering orders fell after twelve-month rises in May and June, the first rises in the segment after steady declines between June 2010 and April 2011.