Building Activity in Greece

I'm trying to get a measure on the extent of the construction slowdown in Greece and its likely impact on the general level of economic activity in Greece. Building permits conceded give one indication. The latest data we have is from June. Looking at the chart, the slowdown from the middle of last year is clear enough.




The year on year growth graph also says it all I think.





We don't have too many other measures for Greece at this point, but the Greek Statistical Office do use cement output as a proxy for the level of construction, and a glass at the volumes used does tell its own story.




Even though in June and July there was a recovery from the lower level of earlier in the year (when remember the government deficit reduction was affecting civil engineering projects and the interest rate tightening at the ECB new home starts), the level is way down across the board from a year earlier, as can be seen clearly from the year on year chart.




And remember all of this is pre the sub-prime turbulence in August, since the latest month we have any kind of data here for in July.