Construction is fluctuating globally if new reports are to be believed. Australian reports indicate that construction work has fallen to a 13-month low in the country, however, Germany is reporting a rise in construction activity. The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) is a global survey that observes the construction activity over the world in a space of one month.
According to BusinessInsider, Australian residential, commercial and engineering industries have all experienced a slump in March compared to the figures calculated a month earlier in February.
Another company that investigated the slump in Australia’s construction sector, the AI Group-HIA, published their findings. It shows that March’s observations of construction engineering are under the 12-month average in 2015.
An economist at the HIA, Georgan Murray, says, “This is a concern because the ongoing contraction in mining-related work still has a way to go yet. It is unlikely that a pick-up in conditions in other sectors will fully offset the contraction in mining investment over the next years, but we need to give non-resource businesses the best possible chance. Bolstering business confidence is the key.”
Business in the German construction sector reached new heights for the fourteenth month in a row, according to ConstructionIndex. Oliver Kolodseike, an economist at Markit, spoke to the website, saying, “Despite falling to a three-month low in March, the Germany Construction PMI signalled a sharp rise in building activity, thereby adding to hopes that the sector will contribute positively to economic growth in the opening quarter of the year. Moreover, capacity pressures continued to build, as companies reported an ongoing shortage of subcontractors, with the respective index falling to its lowest level in two-and-a-half years. The forward-looking indicators suggest that building firms should remain busy: employment levels rose strongly and companies scaled up their buying activity in anticipation of rising demand.”
