France was the country with the highest number of construction starts of homes in 2023, followed by Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom. There were at least ******* housing construction projects starting and a similar number of projects being completed that year. Meanwhile, Bosnia and Herzegovina had less than ***** construction completions, and Hungary had ****** home completions in 2023. A hiccup in residential construction in Poland Not only was Poland amongst the countries with the most homes built on overall terms, but, along with Ireland, it also had the most housing completions per capita in Europe. That was despite the number of housing units completed in Poland declining significantly in 2023. Nevertheless, the trend in residential construction has been very positive in the past years, rising from under ******* in 2014 to slightly under ******* in 2022.

France’s capital region had the busiest residential construction segment France had one of the largest construction sectors in Europe.Although the construction starts of residential and commercial buildings in France decreased in 2023, they still covered nearly ** million square meters. Most of that corresponded to housing. However, that activity was unevenly distributed across the country. The revenue of the building construction and renovation industry in Île-de-France was nearly twice higher than that of the second region in the ranking.

This statistic shows the total number of completed houses in Europe as of 2018. It can be seen that France had the highest number of house completions in 2018 at approximately ***** thousand houses. This was followed by Germany and Poland at ***** thousand and ***** thousand houses respectively.

Ireland had the highest number of new residential properties whose construction started in 2023 per thousand citizens in Europe. Approximately **** new residences were being constructed per 1,000 citizens in Ireland in 2023. Serbia ranked second with **** new residential properties under construction for every thousand citizens, followed by Austria with **** new residential constructions for every one thousand citizens.

European Union - Construction cost of new residential buildings was 1.20 % year-on-year in December of 2023, according to the EUROSTAT. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for European Union - Construction cost of new residential buildings - last updated from the EUROSTAT on July of 2025. Historically, European Union - Construction cost of new residential buildings reached a record high of 15.00 % year-on-year in June of 2022 and a record low of 0.50 % year-on-year in June of 2020.

Construction activity, housing — Building permits — Total number of approved apartments (new construction and construction) in Meyn

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Regional data for Schleswig-Holstein

Statistical Office for Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein

Graph and download economic data for Dwellings and Residential Buildings Permits Issued for Construction for the European Union (ODCNPI03EUQ659S) from Q1 1996 to Q4 2019 about issues, EU, permits, Europe, residential, construction, and housing.

This dataset provides values for HOUSING STARTS reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

Europe Residential Construction Market size was valued at USD 1.08 Trillion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 1.64 Trillion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 5.4% from 2026 to 2032.

Europe Residential Construction Market Drivers

Rising Demographic Shifts and Urbanization Trends: The continuous migration to urban centers across Europe is increasing the housing demands, particularly in major metropolitan areas. According to Eurostat's 2023 data, 75% of the EU population now resides in urban areas, marking a 2.3% increase from the previous year. This urbanization trend has created substantial pressure on residential construction, especially in cities like Berlin, Paris, and Amsterdam, where housing shortages have become increasingly acute.

Growing Sustainable Building Requirements: European nations are witnessing a fundamental shift toward sustainable and energy-efficient housing construction. The European Commission reported in November 2023 that 42% of new residential building permits across the EU now incorporate renewable energy systems. This transformation is driven by stringent environmental regulations, including the EU's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, which mandates nearly zero-energy buildings for all new construction.

Escalating Government Housing Initiatives: The European government has intensified its commitment to addressing housing shortages through various support programs and incentives. The German Federal Statistical Office revealed in January 2024 that government spending on residential construction subsidies reached €18.2 billion, representing a 15% increase year-over-year. These initiatives have particularly focused on affordable housing development and first-time homebuyer assistance programs.

The European country with most housing units approved by building permits in 2023 was Turkey. France was the second country in that ranking, which did not include all major European countries. That year, the construction of 323,290 homes was approved by building permits in France.

Building contractors and developers depend on various socio-economic factors, including property values, underlying sentiment in the housing market, the degree of optimism among downstream businesses and credit conditions. All of these drivers typically track in line with economic sentiment, with recent economic shocks spurring a difficult period for building contractors and developers. Nonetheless, the enduring need for building services, particularly to tackle housing shortages across the continent, ensures a strong foundation of work. Revenue is forecast to grow at a compound annual rate of 2.3% to reach €1.3 trillion over the five years through 2025. Operational and supply chain disruption caused by the pandemic reversed the fortunes of building contractors and developers in 2020, as on-site activity tumbled and downstream clients either cancelled, froze or scaled back investment plans. Aided by the release of pent-up demand and supportive government policy, building construction output rebounded in 2021. Excess demand for key raw materials led to extended lead times during this period, while input costs recorded a further surge as a result of the effects of rapidly climbing energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Soaring construction costs and the impact of interest rate hikes on both the housing market and investor sentiment led to a renewed slowdown in building construction activity across the continent. However, falling inflation and the start of an interest rate cutting cycle have spurred signs of a recovery in new work volumes, supporting anticipated revenue growth of 2.3% in 2025. Revenue is forecast to increase at a compound annual rate of 6.7% to €1.7 trillion over the five years through 2030. Activity is set to remain sluggish in the medium term, as weak economic growth and uncertainty surrounding the impact of the volatile global tariff environment on inflation and borrowing costs continue to weigh on investor sentiment. Contractors and developers will increasingly rely on public sector support, including measures to boost the supply of new housing, as countries seek to tackle severe housing shortages. Meanwhile, the introduction of more stringent sustainability requirements will drive demand for energy retrofits.

The statistics on building permits granted provide information on the number of houses to be built. The statistics on dwellings provide information on the number of houses constructed. The statistics on the dwelling stock provide information on the dwelling stock by type of dwelling. Subjects: Number of dwellings for which building permits have been issued by ownership and client. Number of houses to be finished. Number of houses finished by ownership, client, type and number of rooms. Dwelling stock and changes in the dwelling stock. Stock recreational houses and number of places in special buildings. Data published by groups of provinces, provinces, COROP-regions, urban regions, metropolitan agglomerations and municipalities. Data available from: 1988-2011 Status of the figures: All data in the table are definite. Changes as of 16 january 2014: Non, this table has been discontinued after the updates of reporting year 2011. Since registration year 2012, the figures about changes in the dwelling stock come from a different source. New series have been started to avoid a break in current trends within one table. The relevant figures are published in new tables. Links to relevant tables and articles can be found in section 3. When will new figures be published? This table has been discontinued.

Euro Area - Construction cost of new residential buildings was 0.90 % year-on-year in December of 2023, according to the EUROSTAT. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Euro Area - Construction cost of new residential buildings - last updated from the EUROSTAT on July of 2025. Historically, Euro Area - Construction cost of new residential buildings reached a record high of 14.80 % year-on-year in June of 2022 and a record low of 0.50 % year-on-year in June of 2020.

This table contains part of the results of the monthly statistics on building permits (now called ‘Build environmental permit with activity’). This table publishes data on the average construction amount and content per house, average construction amount per cubic metre and the number of dwellings broken down by property per 12-month period. The results for the period 2002 relate to building permits granted with a construction sum starting from 45 thousand euros. Since 2002, the lower limit has been increased to EUR 50 thousand.

Data available from January 1995 to December 2016.

Status of the figures: The figures are final.

Changes as of 8 May 2017: None, this table has been discontinued. As of reporting year 2017, a different methodology shall be used for the publications, in which: — The figures of municipalities with non-response are estimated. — Completed declarations of municipalities over previous periods are included in the figures for the month in which the permit was granted. — Provisional figures are also published. — 12 months after publication, the figures are definitively fixed.

When are new figures coming? No longer applicable. This table is followed by new tables with recalculated figures of building permits issued from 2012. See paragraph 3.

House building starts and completions statistics. The latest, most useful or most popular data, presented by type and other variables, including by geographical area or as a time series.

The series Output price index of new homes, 2010 = 100 indicates the development of the construction costs of new homes. This series is based on all categories of new homes. The construction costs referred to include the general costs and 'profit and risk' of the contractor, but exclude the land costs and costs of the project developer or estate agent. The basic material for these statistics is derived from data reported to Statistics Netherlands by municipalities. It comes from building permits issued by them for new homes. Data available from: 1st quarter 2008 to 4th quarter 2017 Status of the figures: The figures up to and including 2016 are final. The figures for 2017 are provisional. Since this table has been discontinued, this data is no longer finalized. Changes as of June 22, 2018: None, this table has been discontinued. When will new numbers come out? Not applicable anymore. This table is followed by Newly built homes; output price index construction costs, 2015=100. See section 3.

Construction activity, housing — Building permits — Total number of approved apartments (new construction and construction) in Fitzen

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Regional data for Schleswig-Holstein

Statistical Office for Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein

Analysis of ‘Social Housing Construction Status Report Q4 2020’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from http://data.europa.eu/88u/dataset/https-data-usmart-io-org-ae1d5c14-c392-4c3f-9705-537427eeb413-dataset-viewdiscovery-datasetguid-d1e253b0-0931-4430-8ccf-83dfedc4e92a on 15 January 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

The Minister recently published the Construction Status Report (CSR) for Quarter 4 2020. The CSR provides scheme level detail on new build social housing activity in each local authority area.

https://rebuildingireland.ie/news/minister-obrien-publishes-2020-social-housing-statistics/

Commenting on the report Minister O'Brien said, “The report shows a strong pipeline for new social homes with 8,555 social homes on site and over 9,000 homes at various stages of the approval process. The key priority for my Department is increasing the supply of social housing, I intend to publish our new housing plan ‘Housing for All’ later this summer. It will build on our commitments in the Programme for Government and provide a roadmap, with a whole of Government approach, to outline how we get to a housing system that gives us the sustainable supply we need, at a price that people can afford, with appropriate housing options for the most vulnerable in our society.”

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

Building permits for homes in the European Union (EU-27) experienced a significant decline betwen 2021 and 2024. In 2021, permits were approved for **** million housing units. However, by 2024, this number fell to **** million. The year when housing permits decreased the most was 2023, when housing permits were **** percent lower than the previous year. Among those approvals, nearly twice as many multifamily units were permitted compared to single-family homes. Which country built more homes? Despite the overall decline in EU building permits, individual countries showed varying levels of residential construction activity. Turkey had the highest number of housing units approved by building permits in 2023, with more than ******* units. France followed with ******* units. However, that was partly so because they were the largest countries in Europe. When comparing the number of construction starts of new residential properties per 1,000 citizens, Ireland led with approximately **** new residences per 1,000 citizens, while Italy had only **** new residences per 1,000 citizens.

Real estate investment outlook The decrease in building permits aligns with shifting sentiments in the European real estate industry. According to a 2024 survey of industry experts, investment prospects for house building declined after 2022. However, the prospect score for real estate investment in 2025 increased to **** out of 5 (on a scale from 1 = poor to 5 = excellent). These trends suggest that, despite challenges in residential construction, real estate development activities may start growing again.

Total number of housing starts (seasonally adjusted)

How the figure is calculated:

Total housing starts are reported by local authority and private building control organisations after the end of each quarter. A start is counted from the point at which foundation work begins. The figures are seasonally adjusted to allow comparisons with previous quarters.

Why is this indicator in the business plan?

Increasing the supply of housing is a key part of DCLG policy. The house building figures are the most frequent and timely indicator of housing delivery.

How often is it updated?

Quarterly

Where does the data come from?

P2 quarterly house building returns by local authority building control departments; monthly information from the National House Building Council (NHBC) on the volume of building control inspections; and a quarterly survey of private building control companies. Published figures are at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-communities-and-local-government/series/house-building-statistics.

What area does the headline figure cover?

England

Are further breakdowns of the data available?

Yes, can be split by local authority area and by tenure

What does a change in this indicator show?

An increase in this indicator is good and shows more new houses are being started.

Time Lag

Figures are published within two months of the end of the reporting period.

Next available update

May 2015.

Type of Data

National Statistics.

Robustness and data limitations

The P2 figures from local authorities and figures from private building control companies include imputation for a small number of missing returns.

Seasonal factors for the house building time series are re-calculated annually back to 2000. This is usually done in the second quarter of the calendar year. Therefore the seasonally adjusted house building figures throughout the whole period change slightly at that time but are not marked as 'revised'.

Links to Further Information

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-communities-and-local-government/series/house-building-statistics

Contact Details

CorporatePerformance@communities.gsi.gov.uk

Graph and download economic data for Total Construction for the European Union (PRCNTO01EUA659S) from 1994 to 2017 about EU, Europe, IP, and construction.