July Construction Business Index Slightly Rises... Base Effect Following June's Sharp Decline

Korea Construction Industry Research Institute "Sluggish Situation to Persist for the Time Being"

Overall CBSI Trend

Amid adverse factors in the real estate market such as interest rate hikes and rising raw material prices, the construction sentiment index showed a slight increase last month. However, this is a statistical rebound effect following the sharp decline in June, and the sluggish market conditions are expected to continue for the time being.

On the 2nd, the Korea Construction Industry Research Institute (KICRI) announced that the Construction Business Survey Index (CBSI) for last month recorded 67.9, up 3.2 points from the previous month.

If the CBSI falls below the baseline of 100, it means that more companies view the current construction market pessimistically than optimistically.

Typically, the index generally declines in July due to a decrease in summer construction volume. This year, it showed an unusual increase compared to the previous month. Regarding this, Park Cheolhan, a research fellow at KICRI, interpreted, "It appears to be a statistical rebound effect following the nearly 20-point drop in the index last June."

In June, the CBSI sharply worsened, dropping 18.7 points from the previous month, amid prolonged material price burdens due to the Ukraine crisis and concerns over economic slowdown caused by interest rate hikes in major countries.

Meanwhile, the August outlook index rose by 0.1 points from July to 68.0, indicating that the sluggish situation is expected to persist.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.