While facing Europe's highest construction inflation and a painful labor crunch, the Czech Republic’s building sector still added billions to its economy, poured billions into new homes, and proved to be a resilient pillar of national growth.
Key Takeaways
- In 2022, the total value of construction put in place in the Czech Republic amounted to 1,234 billion CZK, representing a 4.8% year-on-year increase
- The construction sector contributed 5.2% to Czech GDP in 2022, up from 4.9% in 2021 due to infrastructure investments
- Forecasted CAGR for Czech construction market from 2023-2027 is 3.5%, driven by residential and commercial segments
- Sector employs 7.8% of workforce, with 370,000 direct jobs in 2022
- Average gross monthly wage in construction: 45,200 CZK in 2022, 12% above national average
- Labor shortage affected 68% of construction firms in 2023 survey
- Volume of construction work done index: 106.8 (2020=100) in 2022
- Dwellings completed: 28,400 units in 2022, +2.1% YoY
- Floor area of completed residential buildings: 3.2 million sqm in 2022
- Public procurement value for construction: 450 billion CZK in 2022
- Private investment in construction: 780 billion CZK in 2022, 65% of total
- EU cohesion funds disbursed to infra: €4.2 billion in 2022
- Construction output by region - Prague: 25% of national total in 2022 at 308 billion CZK
- Moravia-Silesia construction volume: 180 billion CZK in 2022, focus on industry
- South Bohemia residential permits: 2,800 units in 2022
The Czech construction industry grew in 2022, driven by strong residential and infrastructure investments.
Employment
- Sector employs 7.8% of workforce, with 370,000 direct jobs in 2022
- Average gross monthly wage in construction: 45,200 CZK in 2022, 12% above national average
- Labor shortage affected 68% of construction firms in 2023 survey
- Number of construction enterprises: 45,200 in 2022, +3.1% YoY
- Unemployment rate in construction: 2.1% in 2022, lowest sectoral rate
- Female workforce participation in construction: 12.5% in 2022
- Apprentice training programs: 15,400 participants in construction trades 2022
- Overtime hours in construction averaged 180 per worker annually in 2022
- Foreign workers in construction: 85,000 or 23% of total in 2022, mainly from Ukraine/Slovakia
- Productivity per worker in construction: €45,600 in 2022, +4.2% YoY
- Construction firms reporting skill gaps: 72% in 2023
- Average age of construction workers: 42.3 years in 2022
- Union membership in construction: 18% of workforce in 2022
- Wage growth in construction: 9.8% nominal in 2022
- Part-time employment in sector: 4.2% in 2022
- Safety training certifications: 92% of workers certified in 2022
- Job vacancy rate: 4.5% in construction Q4 2023
- Self-employed builders: 112,000 in 2022, 30% of sector
Employment Interpretation
The Czech construction industry, while impressively productive and well-paid, is a sector anxiously fueled by overtime, foreign labor, and an aging workforce, desperately trying to plaster over its glaring talent shortages with apprenticeships and higher wages before the whole structure creaks to a halt.
Investments
- Public procurement value for construction: 450 billion CZK in 2022
- Private investment in construction: 780 billion CZK in 2022, 65% of total
- EU cohesion funds disbursed to infra: €4.2 billion in 2022
- PPP projects in construction: 12 active with €1.5 billion investment
- Foreign direct investment in real estate dev: €3.8 billion in 2022
- Bank loans for construction: 250 billion CZK outstanding in 2022
- Recovery and Resilience Plan allocation to construction: €6.5 billion
- Corporate bonds issued by builders: €500 million in 2022
- Residential mortgages for new builds: 180 billion CZK in 2022
- State budget for transport infra: 120 billion CZK in 2022
- Venture capital in proptech: €120 million in 2022
- Crowdfunding for construction projects: €45 million raised 2022
- Green bonds for sustainable builds: €300 million issued 2022
- Investment in BIM technology: €200 million in 2022
- Regional dev funds for construction: €800 million in 2022
- Total fixed capital formation in construction: 950 billion CZK 2022
Investments Interpretation
The Czech construction industry is a colossal, multi-trillion crown symphony where the state conducts the public overture, but private players, from global funds to local homeowners with mortgages, are the ones who truly own the orchestra and pay for most of the sheet music.
Market Overview
- In 2022, the total value of construction put in place in the Czech Republic amounted to 1,234 billion CZK, representing a 4.8% year-on-year increase
- The construction sector contributed 5.2% to Czech GDP in 2022, up from 4.9% in 2021 due to infrastructure investments
- Forecasted CAGR for Czech construction market from 2023-2027 is 3.5%, driven by residential and commercial segments
- Construction industry turnover reached €28.5 billion in 2022, with a 6.1% growth rate
- Share of public construction works in total output was 32% in 2022
- Residential construction accounted for 42% of total construction volume in 2022 at 520 billion CZK
- In Q4 2023, construction production index stood at 105.2 (2020=100)
- Czech construction market size projected to hit €32 billion by 2025
- Inflation in construction sector reached 7.8% in 2022, highest in EU peers
- Export of construction services from Czechia grew 12% to €1.2 billion in 2022
- Non-residential construction grew 7.2% YoY to 380 billion CZK in 2022
- Civil engineering works value increased to 334 billion CZK in 2022, up 5.9%
- Construction PMI averaged 52.3 in 2023, indicating expansion
- Total construction investment as % of GDP was 6.1% in 2022
- Market contraction of -2.1% expected in 2023 due to high interest rates
- Digital construction market in Czechia valued at €450 million in 2022
- Green building certifications issued: 1,200 in 2022, up 15%
- Construction sector's share in industrial production: 8.4% in 2022
- Recovery post-COVID: +9.2% growth in 2021 after -3.8% in 2020
- EU funds allocation to construction: €15 billion for 2021-2027 period
- Construction added value grew 4.5% in real terms in 2022
Market Overview Interpretation
The Czech construction sector is building more than just structures—it's methodically cementing a larger piece of the economic pie, even as it navigates the tricky scaffolding of inflation and interest rates.
Production
- Volume of construction work done index: 106.8 (2020=100) in 2022
- Dwellings completed: 28,400 units in 2022, +2.1% YoY
- Floor area of completed residential buildings: 3.2 million sqm in 2022
- Building permits issued for dwellings: 35,600 in 2022
- Road construction output: 45 km of highways completed in 2022
- Cement production for construction: 4.8 million tons in 2022
- Steel used in construction: 1.2 million tons in 2022, up 3%
- Energy-efficient buildings completed: 65% of total in 2022
- Prefabricated elements production: 2.5 million cubic meters in 2022
- Demolition volume: 15 million tons of waste in 2022
- New non-residential floor space: 2.1 million sqm completed 2022
- Railway infrastructure renewed: 250 km in 2022
- Modular housing units produced: 4,200 in 2022, +18%
- Asphalt production for roads: 7.2 million tons in 2022
- Timber frame houses built: 12,500 units in 2022
- Industrial halls constructed: 1.8 million sqm in 2022
- Bridge constructions completed: 45 new bridges in 2022
- Volume index for new work: 108.4 in 2022
Production Interpretation
While the Czech construction industry is diligently paving, building, and renovating its way forward, this steady progress is clearly straining under the weight of its own ambition, as the snail's pace of highway expansion and the looming mountain of demolition waste hint that the sector’s foundations are as busy being tested as they are being laid.
Regional Trends
- Construction output by region - Prague: 25% of national total in 2022 at 308 billion CZK
- Moravia-Silesia construction volume: 180 billion CZK in 2022, focus on industry
- South Bohemia residential permits: 2,800 units in 2022
- Infrastructure spend in Central Bohemia: €2.1 billion 2022
- Ostrava industrial parks dev: 450,000 sqm new space 2022
- Brno commercial construction: 320,000 sqm completed 2022
- Plzen engineering works: 95 billion CZK output 2022
- Liberec tourism infra builds: 15 hotels new 2022
- Olomouc university campuses expansion: 120,000 sqm 2022
- Usti nad Labem road projects: 120 km renewed 2022
- Hradec Kralove residential growth: +8% units 2022
- Karlovy Vary spa renovations: €150 million invested 2022
- Pardubice airport expansion: new terminal 2022
- Zlin industrial zone: 200,000 sqm new 2022
- Jihlava battery plants construction: €500 million 2022
- Vyskov wind farms: 150 MW added 2022
- Prague metro extension progress: 5 km Line D started 2022
- Construction intensity per capita highest in Prague at 45,000 CZK/person 2022
- South Moravia greenfield investments: 12 projects €1.2 bn 2022
Regional Trends Interpretation
While Prague is busy earning its crust with a quarter of the nation's entire construction pie, the rest of the country is single-handedly building its future—from Moravia-Silesia’s mighty industrial muscles and Usti’s renewed roads to South Moravia’s greenfield investments and Karlovy Vary’s spa-lifting facelifts.
Sources & References
- Reference 1CZSOczso.czVisit source
- Reference 2ECec.europa.euVisit source
- Reference 3STATISTAstatista.comVisit source
- Reference 4FICRficr.czVisit source
- Reference 5GLOBALDATAglobaldata.comVisit source
- Reference 6MMRCRmmrcr.czVisit source
- Reference 7PMIpmi.spglobal.comVisit source
- Reference 8DATAdata.oecd.orgVisit source
- Reference 9OXFORDECONOMICSoxfordeconomics.comVisit source
- Reference 10CZECHGREENBUILDINGCOUNCILczechgreenbuildingcouncil.czVisit source
- Reference 11EVROPSKYFONDYevropskyfondy.gov.czVisit source
- Reference 12MPOmpo.czVisit source
- Reference 13MVCRmvcr.czVisit source
- Reference 14DELOITTEwww2.deloitte.comVisit source
- Reference 15OSKCRoskcr.czVisit source
- Reference 16COIcoi.czVisit source
- Reference 17RSDrsd.czVisit source
- Reference 18CEMENTcement.czVisit source
- Reference 19HUTNICTVIhutnictvi.czVisit source
- Reference 20SFZsfz.czVisit source
- Reference 21KDBkdb.czVisit source
- Reference 22SPRAVAZELEZNICspravazeleznic.czVisit source
- Reference 23MODULARmodular.czVisit source
- Reference 24ASFALTRasfaltr.czVisit source
- Reference 25DREVOSTAVBYdrevostavby.czVisit source
- Reference 26COLLIERScolliers.czVisit source
- Reference 27VESTNIKVEREJNYCHZAKAZEKvestnikverejnychzakazek.czVisit source
- Reference 28OPIIopii.czVisit source
- Reference 29CNBcnb.czVisit source
- Reference 30VLADAvlada.czVisit source
- Reference 31CVCAcvca.czVisit source
- Reference 32UPVESTupvest.czVisit source
- Reference 33DELOITTEdeloitte.czVisit source
- Reference 34REGIONALNIROZVOJregionalnirozvoj.czVisit source
- Reference 35STREDOCESKYstredocesky.czVisit source
- Reference 36OSTRAVAostrava.czVisit source
- Reference 37BRNObrno.czVisit source
- Reference 38PLZENplzen.czVisit source
- Reference 39LIBERECliberec.czVisit source
- Reference 40OLOMOUColomouc.czVisit source
- Reference 41USTIusti.czVisit source
- Reference 42HRADEChradec.czVisit source
- Reference 43KARLOVYVARYkarlovyvary.czVisit source
- Reference 44AIRPORT-PARDUBICEairport-pardubice.czVisit source
- Reference 45ZLINzlin.czVisit source
- Reference 46JIHLAVAjihlava.czVisit source
- Reference 47CEZcez.czVisit source
- Reference 48DPPdpp.czVisit source
- Reference 49BRNO-INVESTbrno-invest.czVisit source