The volume of construction output will grow by more than 70% to reach $15-trillion worldwide by 2025, with China, India and the US accounting for almost 60% of the global growth.

This is according to the ‘Global Construction 2025’ report, which researchers Global Construction Perspectives and Oxford Economics published last week.

Global Construction Perspectives executive director Graham Robinson commented that 63% of all construction would be in emerging markets by 2025, with China and India, which need to build another 270-million new homes over the next 12 years, contributing most to the growth.

“World construction markets are already at a tipping point, with 52% of all construction activ- ity in emerging markets today,” he commented in a statement.

Robinson added that China overtook the US to become the world’s largest construction market in 2010, and was expected to increase its global share from 18% in 2013 to 26% in 2025, despite an expected slowdown.

India was predicted to overtake Japan as the third-largest construction market, with a yearly construction growth rate of 7.4% expected to exceed that of China.

In contrast, the construction market in Western Europe was expected to be almost 5% smaller in 2025 than its prerecession peak in 2007, while North America was forecast to be almost 40% larger.

“By 2050, there will be two-billion additional city dwellers, and sustainable urbanisation will be a major construction challenge. As a result, the industry will need to strive to find innovative new products and solutions to contribute to building better cities,” added Lafarge chairperson and CE Bruno Lafont.

The survey also found that significant opportunities had arisen for a new generation of ‘Asian Tigers’, namely Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, which were becoming increasingly attractive for export-orientated manufacturing, and represented a $350-billion construction market growing at over 6% a year.

“While China is the key market, it would be a mistake to ignore the transformations happening elsewhere in Asia, which will help boost construction in Asia Pacific,” noted Oxford Economics Industry Services director Jeremy Leonard.