Shifts in European house building

Ireland, a country still enjoying a housing boom just a few years ago, comes bottom of the European house-building ranking table with 1.3 new-build homes per 1 000 inhabitants. Nevertheless Euroconstruct, an economic research institute, expects these figures to improve over the next three years, exactly as for Hungary (1.5 homes) and the former frontrunner Spain (1.6). The researchers expect a sharp drop for Portugal, which currently scores 2.6 new-build homes per 1 000 inhabitants and is positioned ahead of Germany (2.3). Switzerland occupies the top spot with a figure of 6.1, followed by Finland (5.9) and France (5.5).