ÉVOSZ survey: Strong pessimism in the construction industry

According to the latest economic survey by Építési Vállalkozók Országos Szakszövetsége (ÉVOSZ) economic survey, the majority of construction companies are pessimistic about the end of 2025: 60% of companies expect a decline in sales revenue, according to a detailed statement sent to our newspaper.

The lack of orders, the unpredictable economic environment and intensifying price competition pose serious challenges for the sector, emphasises Koji László, president of ÉVOSZ. Most companies are trying to maintain their competitiveness by strengthening their networks and developing their technology, while market pessimism and pressure on profits continue to intensify.

Four hundred companies were surveyed.

It surveyed 400 companies, including its member organisations and other major players in the construction industry, to assess the changes brought about by market conditions in the first half of 2025, what their expectations were for the whole of 2025, how competition in the market had developed, what strategies they were using to remain competitive, and what developments they were planning in order to increase their competitiveness over the coming year. 

The geographical distribution of the responding companies roughly corresponds to the national data. The South Transdanubia region is underrepresented (the ratio is 5.9% according to KSH data), while the Pest and Budapest regions are slightly overrepresented (the ratio is 14.7% and 37% according to KSH data).

Declining sales revenues

Due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, the lack of state investments and the wait-and-see attitude of the population, the turnover of 65% companies decreased in the first half of 2025, by an average of 24%, which is a significant decline. The turnover of 15% of the responding businesses remained unchanged compared to the first half of 2024. Only 20% of businesses reported an increase in turnover compared to the previous year, by an average of 17.5%.

The majority of companies (60%) expect a decline in sales revenue for 2025 as a whole, which indicates serious market pessimism. Only 27.5% expect growth, while 12.5% expect stagnation.

The profitability of businesses relative to their turnover shows considerable variation.

Of the companies participating in the survey, 55% had a higher return on sales than 5% in 2024, and 15% achieved a return on sales above 10%. 15% of the companies reported a return on sales between 3 and 5%, while 30% reported a return on sales below 3%.

Only 12.51% of respondents expect improvement by 2025, with the majority of companies (60.1%) anticipating a decline in profitability relative to sales revenue. Even among companies with profitability above 10%, many expect a deterioration, indicating that even the best do not feel that the environment is stable.

More orders are needed

Similar to the previous survey, the majority of respondent companies (87.5%) highlighted the lack of orders as the factor that most hinders their activities. This was followed by frequent changes and unpredictability in economic regulations, which was cited by 60% of respondents, ranking third in the previous survey with 48.1%. Unfair competition moved up to third place in the latest survey from second place in the previous survey, with just over half of respondents (57.51%) selecting this option. Increasing competition is an obstacle for 40% of respondents. High administrative burdens, labour market problems (shortage of skilled workers, labour shortages) and inflation were selected by every third respondent.

Highlights:

Nearly half of respondents (45%) were unable to pass on price increases to customers at all in the past year, with full implementation occurring only sporadically.

Two-thirds of respondents (67.5%) experienced a decline in the number of orders over the past year. Only 10% reported an increase (in the areas of construction, building services engineering and occupational safety), while 22.5% experienced stagnation, indicating that the market is experiencing negative trends in most areas.

Late payments are common

Nine out of ten respondents stated that their business partners had paid late in the past six months, with an average of 17.51 days. 85% of the companies participating in the survey had outstanding receivables on 31 August, meaning that late payments and customer debts were widespread. The average amount of outstanding receivables was 12.41% of invoiced sales revenue, which is an increase compared to 11.1% six months ago. Of the companies with outstanding receivables, 88.21% estimated that 83.21% of these debts could be collected without legal action.