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Europe set to lose out as global construction soars to $15 trillion

1 Jul 13 A report released today forecasts that the volume of construction output will grow by more than 70% to an annual US$15 trillion (£9.9 trillion) worldwide by 2025.

But the construction market in western Europe will be almost 5% smaller by 2025 than it was in 2007 at its pre-recession peak.

The study - the third in a series from Global ÂÜÀòÔ­´´ Perspectives and Oxford Economics - forecasts that meteoric growth outpacing global GDP will be concentrated in three countries - China, the USA and India.

World construction markets are at a tipping point already with 52% of all construction activity in emerging markets today. We expect to see this increasing to 63% by 2025, with China and India contributing most to growth in emerging markets,â€� said Graham Robinson  Global ÂÜÀòÔ­´´ Perspectives executive director.

China overtook the US to become the world’s largest construction market in 2010, and is expected to increase its global share from 18% today to 26% in 2025, despite an expected slowdown.

“China and India will need to build another 270 million new homes by 2025 - mostly affordable homes,â€�said Mike Betts from Global ÂÜÀòÔ­´´ Perspectives.

The report says that significant opportunities have arisen for a new generation of ‘Asian Tigers’.  Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines represent a US$350bn construction market growing at more than 6% annually. “While China is the key market, it would be a mistake to ignore the transformations happening elsewhere in Asia, which will help boost construction in Asia Pacific,� said Oxford Economics director of industry services Jeremy Leonard.

India will overtake Japan as the third-largest construction market with annual growth averaging 7.4% annually in construction expected to exceed that of China, says the report.

The construction market in Western Europe is expected to be almost 5% smaller in 2025 than in 2007, whilst North America is forecast to be almost 40% larger.

“By 2050, there’ll be two billion additional city dwellers - sustainable urbanisation will be a major construction challenge and the industry must strive to find innovative new products and solutions, to contribute to building better cities,� said Lafarge chairman and chief executive.

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