Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that Receipts of the Construction Sector decreased by 2.3% year-on-year to MOP53.29 billion in 2019, with Receipts from Construction Works Performed (MOP51.65 billion) dropping by 3.1%. Expenditure of the sector dipped by 3.0% year-on-year to MOP48.49 billion, of which Intermediate Consumption (MOP39.42 billion) fell by 3.9% while Labour Cost (MOP9.07 billion) rose by 0.8%. As expenditure showed a greater decline than receipts, Gross Surplus of the sector went up by 5.5% to MOP4.8 billion. Besides, Gross Value Added that measures the sectoral contribution to the economy grew by 2.4% to MOP13.87 billion.

A total of 3,905 establishments were operating in the Construction Sector in 2019, an increase of 550 year-on-year. Among them, 1,403 were engaged in construction projects with permits and 2,502 were engaged in simple renovation projects. Total number of persons engaged in the sector rose by 1,785 year-on-year to 42,816.

Receipts of the establishments engaged in construction projects with permits dropped by 3.0% year-on-year to MOP49.59 billion in 2019, of which Receipts from Construction Works Performed (MOP48 billion) decreased by 3.8%. Expenditure of these establishments fell by 3.6% to MOP45.16 billion, with Intermediate Consumption (MOP37.39 billion) and Labour Cost (MOP7.77 billion) reducing by 4.2% and 0.4% respectively. Meanwhile, Gross Surplus rose by 4.1% to MOP4.43 billion and Gross Value Added went up by 1.2% to MOP12.2 billion.

According to the project case files of the government departments of construction works, there were 1,774 files on construction projects with permits performed in 2019, an increase of 34 year-on-year. Analysed by type of construction projects, number of private construction projects decreased by 68 to 1,027. Receipts from Construction Works Performed fell by 18.6% year-on-year to MOP31.89 billion due to a 33.3% decline in receipts from construction of new private residential buildings (MOP8.28 billion); besides, receipts from construction of hotels and entertainment facilities (MOP19.6 billion) recorded a 12.3% drop. On the other hand, number of public construction projects increased by 102 to 747. Receipts from Construction Works Performed surged by 50.6% year-on-year to MOP16.11 billion, with receipts from construction of public infrastructure (MOP5.95 billion) expanding by 92.4%.

As regards the establishments undertaking simple renovation projects, their receipts increased by 7.4% year-on-year to MOP3.7 billion in 2019, of which Receipts from Construction Works Performed (MOP3.65 billion) saw a 6.9% rise. Expenditure of these establishments amounted to MOP3.33 billion, up by 5.7%; Intermediate Consumption (MOP2.03 billion) and Labour Cost (MOP1.3 billion) registered respective growth of 3.6% and 9.1%. Gross Surplus went up by 25.0% to MOP372 million as the increase in receipts surpassed that in expenditure, and Gross Value Added climbed by 12.3% to MOP1.67 billion.

The Construction Sector Survey covers all establishments engaged in construction projects with permits as the main contractor or first-level sub-contractor, as well as establishments engaged in simple renovation projects.