The unusually high growth rate was partly due to a base effect, as contractors brought forward works in July 2025 to avoid the harsher tax regime introduced in August 2025.
However, the sector’s robust performance cannot be attributed entirely to the base effect. The construction volume index accelerated from 7.7% y/y in Q1 to 18.0% y/y in Q2, reaching an average growth rate of 18.6% y/y in July–August.
The record level of construction activity this year, supported by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), particularly in civil engineering and non-residential construction, creates high base effects that erode the potential for further growth in 2027.
In value-added terms, the sector’s annual growth accelerated from 7.8% y/y in Q1 to 15.4% y/y in Q2.
In July–August, as in each of the two previous quarters, residential construction outperformed the other segments. Output rose by an average of 28.3% y/y over the two months (+54.8% y/y in August alone), following growth of 15% y/y in Q1 and 25% y/y in Q2. In seasonally and working-day-adjusted (swda) terms, residential construction output reached a new record in August.
In fact, all three market segments reached new highs in August, even though total construction volume remained slightly below the record level reached in July 2025. This counterintuitive result reflects the separate seasonal adjustments applied to each market segment and to the market total.
Over the past five years, civil engineering has expanded the most. Its volume more than doubled on average in July–August compared with the same period five years earlier, against a more modest 17% increase in residential construction and a 71.4% rise in non-residential construction.
Civil engineering activity has been visibly driven by projects funded under the RRF, and robust growth is expected to continue over the remainder of the year.