Investment in housing has fallen 96 pct in a decade
While the slump in Greece’s construction sector over the last decade can be put down to the steep downturn in investment in residential structures, investment in infrastructure works has proved more resistant to the economic crisis.
According to data collected by the Association of Greek Contracting Companies (SATE), investment in housing declined from a high of 25.2 billion euros in 2007 to just 1 billion euros last year. This is the biggest 10-year decline the sector has ever seen and it has contributed significantly toward the overall contraction of the Greek economy since the end of the last decade.
At the same time investment in other forms of construction has decreased at a considerably slower rate, from 8.9 billion euros in 2007 to 7.1 billion in 2017.
In total, investment in the construction sector – an area which has helped fuel the economy in decades past – dropped from 56 percent of all fixed investment in 2007 to 36 percent last year, posting a bigger decline than any other form of fixed investment. In absolute figures, investment in construction fell from 60.5 billion in 2007 to 22.4 billion euros a decade later.
