CE Barometer May 2014: Optimism endures

Results of May CE Barometer survey pointed to continued high confidence in the turnaround that has been seen in the European construction market since February.

February saw confidence in the sector hit its highest levels since the start of the global financial crisis, with the CE Climate, a broad measure of sentiment, reach a balance figure of +36.4%. The balance figure is the percentage of positive responses, minus the number of negative ones.

Although subsequent months have seen some wavering in that measure of confidence, it has still remained at a high level, and in May was measured at a balance of +26.2%

All the individual measures of confidence that go into the CE Climate remained high in May, but were down from the remarkable results of the April survey.

For example, a balance of +46.7% of respondents said in May that they expected activity levels to be higher in a year’s time. That was a very powerful result, but was still down from the figure of +57.6% seen in April (which was on a par with the pre-crisis peak seen in early 2007).

Meanwhile, a balance of +14.7% of respondents said activity levels were better in May than a month previously. This was still comfortably in positive territory, but was down from April’s result of +23.9%.

With four straight months of emphatically positive results, the current upswing in the CE Barometer is looking more and more like a genuine recovery, rather than a seasonal ‘blip’

As the ‘clock’ diagram illustrates the sentiment for a relative boom is very strong. However, it is important to interpret this correctly. The clock only indicates which way the market is heading, and how many people share that view – the length of the arrow is the strength of the sentiment. It does not indicate how big market growth will be.

Take part

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 1^st to the 15^th of each month on our website. Full information can be found at www.cebarometer.eu