Building in Europe

Switzerland is the country with Europe’s highest rate of house building. There 5.6 new-build housing units will be completed per 1 000 inhabitants in 2011, according to a forecast from Euroconstruct, an association of economic research institutes. Next come Finland (5.4) and France (5.1). Bottom of the list is Ireland with a figure of 1.7; at the height of the overheated housing boom in 2006 the rate came to 21.3 new housing units per 1 000 inhabitants. New-build rates of three to five units per 1 000 inhabitants are indicated as normal, in spite of the demographic trend. Only Austria achieved this level in a European comparison, apart from the first three.