Despite April's Rise in Construction Sentiment, Negative Outlook Remains

Construction Business Survey Index Rises 6.7 Points to 74.8 in April
"Negative responses prevail... Construction market slump continues"

Construction companies continue to view market conditions negatively.

According to the Construction & Economy Research Institute of Korea (CERIK) on May 12, last month's Construction Business Survey Index (CBSI) was recorded at 74.8, up 6.7 points from the previous month. The CBSI quantifies construction companies' perceptions of the business climate. A reading below 100 indicates that more companies view the current market conditions pessimistically, while a reading above 100 means more companies are optimistic.

Lee Ji-hye, a research fellow at CERIK, said, "Although the perceived construction market has somewhat improved compared to March, negative responses still dominate, indicating that the sluggish trend in the construction market continues."

However, despite the negative outlook among construction companies, all detailed performance indices rose compared to the previous month. The Construction Progress Index recorded the largest increase, rising by 12.0 points to 85.0. The New Orders Index (71.1, up 10.4 points), Order Backlog Index (80.4, up 10.4 points), Material Procurement Index (93.5, up 9.4 points), Construction Receivables Index (85.1, up 9.0 points), and Financing Index (76.5, up 6.3 points) also increased in that order.

By sector, the New Orders Index rose for civil engineering (65.7, up 11.7 points), non-residential building (69.1, up 9.6 points), and residential building (70.8, up 4.8 points). By company size, the index for large companies (100.0, up 16.7 points) and small companies (61.5, up 5.1 points) increased, while the index for medium-sized companies (63.3, down 1.2 points) declined. By region, both the Seoul index (93.4, up 11.1 points) and the provincial index (63.2, up 7.3 points) rose.

Meanwhile, the outlook index for this month was recorded at 71.9, which is 2.9 points lower than the April performance index.