Portugal

Overall construction activity

In 2019, according to Banco de Portugal (BP) forecasts, Portugal’s GDP grew at a rate of 2% in real terms compared to 2.4% in 2018. The labour market maintained a favourable evolution throughout 2019, with an increase in total employment in the economy (1.1% until September 2019 compared to September 2018) and a reduction in the unemployment rate, from 7.1% to 6.4%. Following the figures of the Quarterly National Accounts, released by Statistic National Institute (INE), the gross-fixed capital formation in construction grew by 11.7% in real terms, during the first three quarters of 2019. According to FEPICOP´s estimates, the construction sector’s production reached €13.4 billion in 2019, a 6.0% growth in real terms compared to 2018, in line with the new growth cycle that began in 2017. The number of workers in the construction sector has grown by more than 5% since 2017, rising from an average of 290,000 in 2016 to an average of 307,500 in the first three quarters of 2019. The most significant evolution took place in 2017 when the number of workers grew by 17,000 compared to 2016. Over the first nine months of 2019, the average of 307,500 people working in construction represented 6.3% of the total employment and reflected a growth of 1.1% over the same period of 2018.

Housebuilding

House building production is estimated at above €3.8 billion in 2019, increasing by 12.0% in real terms. In 2019 new construction works should have assumed the most dynamic role in this segment, increasing by 14% in real terms and registering a production volume close to €2.3 billion. The output of residential building repair and maintenance is expected to have grown by 9% in 2019. In absolute terms, the production of this sub-segment should have reached, in 2019, €1.5 billion (39% of total production in the residential segment). New housing permits grew by 18% during 2019 reaching 24,000, the highest number for the last 9 years. Also, the information concerning the number of completed houses points to a sharp increase with the number of completions growing by 17.2% until the end of September. During that period, 10,100 new houses were completed.