ANALYSIS: The growth trend in the construction market is resuming

Romania's economy has continued its positive trend in the last three months of 2014, registering a GDP growth in real terms of 0.7% relative to the previous quarter, representing an increase of 2.8% compared to the same period in 2013, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INS). Consequently, the estimated GDP for the full year 2014 amounted to 666637.3 million lei at current prices, increasing in real terms by 2.8% compared to 2013. In this context, the construction sector continued to decline in 2014 for the sixth consecutive year, the calculated volume of specific works recording a contraction of 6.7%, mainly because of the strong reduction in the segment of infrastructure works (-21.8%). However, the residential sector increased by 32.6% and non-residential by 16.6%, being recorded a sustainable upward trend especially on the housing segment and a resumption of growth in the real estate sector, compared with other destination. According to the latest reports made by Oxford Economics, for 2015 is projected an acceleration of the GDP growth in Romania (+3.5%), a development which will be backed by all sectors, including the construction one, which is expected to record a growth of 4.7% from the level in 2014 (according to the National Commission for Prognosis - CNP). The representatives of Romanian Association of Construction Entrepreneurs (ARACO) assert that the construction sector stood last year to 8.9 billion euro, the first time when the industry drops below 9 billion euro, the smallest value after 2007. As the number of employees in the sector recorded an increase of 1,100 employees in 2014, from 347,700 workers in 2013 to 348,800 persons last year, it results that, despite the contraction in the sector, companies in the field have continued to invest in the specialized labor work.