Poland

Overall construction activity

General economic development in Poland is on a steady growth path which also continued in 2019. GDP in constant prices rose by 4.2% last year. Poland therefore remains one of the driving economic forces in the European Union. Since the economic crisis 2009, GDP growth rates in fixed prices in Poland amount to 43% compared to only 17% in the EU28. A similar development can be observed in the construction sector where the accumulated growth in Poland amounted to 19% compared to 6% in the EU28. Nevertheless, growth of construction investment has slowed down in Poland in the past 15 years. Figures show an average rise in fixed prices of 5% in the last three years compared to rates between 7 and 12% until 2009. The volume of total construction investment reached €49 billion in 2019. Construction's share of GDP was 9%. Construction output grew by 3.7% in real terms in 2019. Considerable growth was reported in all subsectors. Once again, housebuilding was the driving force, although the growth rate in construction of new houses and flats slowed down. Due to the slowdown in output and high competition, construction prices fell by 10% from 2012 to 2016. In 2017, a growth of 2% was recorded. Prices rose by 5% in 2018 and by 3.5% in 2019. The slowdown in construction activity growth combined with the progress in productivity, led to stagnation in employment in construction. In 2019, about 1.2 million people were working in the construction sector of which 900,000 were employees and 300,000 self-employed workers. These figures do not differ significantly from those in 2010.