To deal with this high number of bankruptcies in the sector, Embuild is asking different governments to continue investing in housing, buildings and infrastructure.
2025 will be another difficult year for the construction sector
In mid-December, Embuild was already sounding the alarm, contesting the declarations of the National Bank which believed that the hardest part was behind us in the construction sector. “On the contrary, 2025 still promises to be a difficult year for the construction and installation sector. Since the end of 2021, the sector has encountered difficulties. In 2024 activity fell by 0.4% and it will decrease another 0.3% in 2025. The year was especially complicated for housing construction, which recorded a drop in activity of no less than 7.3%, while the previous two years had already been very bad and there is still talk of a decline in 2025 (of 3.3%) Housing renovation also continues to crumble. In addition, infrastructure works will also decrease from year 2025 due to the drop in public investments For Embuild, it is clear: the next federal government must encourage construction and renovation by applying a VAT rate of 6% on renovation projects and on sales projects. involving demolition and reconstruction, while increasing the infrastructure investment budget to 5 billion euros in 2029, compared to 3 billion in 2022.”
“This is the fourth consecutive year that our sector will be in difficulty,” explains Niko Demeester, managing director of Embuild. “We have not recorded any growth for 4 years now. The housing construction sector in particular is going through a serious crisis. Our sector is doing worse than the Belgian economy as a whole.”
The construction federation therefore does not expect a recovery before 2026, or even 2027.
VAT at 6%, tax-exempt overtime hours: faced with the acute crisis in the Horeca sector, the Committed are asking the Federal Government to take measures
