CE Barometer: Confidence strengthens in February

Sentiment on the European construction industry edged upwards in February, in line with the normal seasonal pattern of month-on-month activity improving following the worst of the winter.

A balance figure of 11.6% of survey respondents said activity levels in February were higher than in January, an improvement from the level of -6.1% seen a month ago and -13.0% seen in December. The balance figure is the percentage of positive responses minus the percentage of negative responses.

As in the last few months, sentiment about the future remained strong in February. A balance of 35.4% of respondents said they expected activity levels to be higher in a year’s time compared to this month. This was on a par with the results seen in January and throughout the final quarter of 2015.

And as in January, a positive balance of respondents said they were busier now than a year ago. The figure in February was +14.3%, up from the 11.5% seen in January and the brief blip into negative territory recorded in December.

This run of positive results lifted the CE Climate figure – a composite number based on responses to all questions – from just +2.6% in December to +12.2% in January and on to +20.4% this month. This took this broad measure of confidence up to the kind of levels seen over last summer, and to a higher level than seen a year ago.

Take part

The survey, which takes just a one minute to complete, is open to all construction professionals working in Europe. The CE Barometer survey is open from the 1^st to the 15^th of each month on our website. Full information can be found at www.cebarometer.eu