Best opportunities in US, China and Japan

A new study by IHS Global Insight has placed the US, China and Japan at the top of a ranking of large construction markets with the best opportunities. The list was established by measuring market growth and size along with construction-specific risk.

The Size-Oriented Market Opportunities index, which forms part of the forecasting company's latest Global Construction Outlook report is heavily weighted towards current market size (60%), but also looks at the two other factors. The US, with its US$ 903 billion construction market and low risk score tops the list, despite its low growth. In contrast, the US$ 820 billion Chinese market and US$ 552 billion Japanese construction sector have worse risk ratings but also better growth prospects.

In terms of pure market size, IHS Global Insight lists the US, China, Japan, India and Spain as the five biggest construction markets in the world. The five fastest growing markets meanwhile are China, India, Panama, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

The five lowest risk markets are the US, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan, while the five highest risk markets are given as Ecuador, Venezuela, Iran, Bolivia and Argentina.

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