Building on decline

This piece of news from Eurostat might concentrate some minds,

Construction in euro zone registers 12.5 per cent slump in January

That is a terrifying collapse in a key market sector.

In December 2009, the decline was 2.5 per cent on annual basis for the entire union, the report said.

Construction in January 2010 in the euro zone shrank by 10.6 per cent whereas average figures for the European Union stand at a 7.6 per cent drop.

Interestingly there are one or two places that are showing a rise,

But when annual statistics are taken into account, construction output fell in nine countries and grew once again in Sweden by 13.6 per cent and the United Kingdom with 1.1 per cent.

Countries that are not in the Eurozone.