CE Barometer May 2011: Buoyancy continues

May was the fourth steady month in a row for the CE Barometer, with a broad spread of positive results indicating continued confidence in the European construction sector. Although there were some falls compared to previous months, all measures of confidence were firmly in positive territory.

A balance of +18,5% of respondents said they saw month-on-month activity improve in April. This was a decline on the previous month's figure of +30,8%, but still broadly in line with confidence levels seen in February and March.

There was no such slip-up in the measure of future confidence, which at +44,4% was strongly positive. In fact, respondents to the survey have returned similarly up-beat results for some 18 months now - an indication of the continued positive outlook for the industry.

The improving situation was also underlined in May by the fact that a balance of +22,2% of respondents said business was better now than a year ago. This has proved to be a slightly more volatile indicator of confidence than the other two, but still, it has been comfortably in positive territory since April last year.

Take part

CE would like to thank all those that took part in the May survey. It was completed by more than 300 construction professionals in 30 countries around the region.

The survey, which takes just a one minute to complete, is open to all construction professionals working in Europe. The CE Barometer survey is open from the 1st to the 15^th of each month on our website. Full information can be found at www.cebarometer.eu