MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine construction activity slows down for third month running

Landscape of cranes in the city of Buenos Aires

Argentine construction activity in Argentina during June dropped for the third consecutive month compared to a year ago. The drop was 1.5% according to the Construction Activity Synthetic Index (ISAC) from the country’s stats office, Indec.

As a result of this the construction industry ended the first semester with a 0.8% decrease. However on a monthly basis the Indec in June increased 2.4% compared to May.

Regarding prospects the main construction companies both those involved in public works as in the private sector and which were polled by Indec, said that in the third quarter the decrease tendency in activity will persist.

According to the poll, 50% of those involved in the government and private sector, the level of activity will fall in July-September said Indec.

The surface to be constructed and registered according to building permits for the private sector in 42 counties of metropolitan Buenos Aires, in June was down 4.2% compared to May and 14.1% year on year.

Likewise figures released at the beginning of July showed that the surface in square metres of registered building projects had collapsed 46% in the City of Buenos Aires compared to a year ago.

Although this can be attributed to a slowing down of the Argentine economy and the industry, it is also true that the US dollar clamp, increasingly tighter since last October had virtually frozen the real estate market since most operations traditionally are (were) done in US dollars.

The construction industry both in jobs and investment has been one of the pillars of Argentina’s strong recovery in the last eight years.