The European Rental Association's Secretary General, Michel Petitjean, has said that rising commodity prices, disrupted supply chains and higher inflation will combine to cut construction growth in the region from 3.5% to 1.5% on average.
The ERA made its previous forecast last November, but it has since revised its estimates. The UK is expected to grow by 2.8% this year, although this is down from 6.0%. Meanwhile, Germany's growth withers from 7.0% to 2.1%.
In other areas, France growth shrinks from 5.2% to 4.0%, Sweden from 2.9% to 1.6% and Italy from 8.3% to 3.4%. The forecast for Spain more than halves to 3.4% and the Netherlands from 2.9% to 1.5%.
ERA and its research partner IHS Markit are now forecasting modest growth rates for 2023, typically in the 1.5% to 4.0% range. UK, Sweden, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands are expected to grow by between 1.9 and 2.5%, while Germany at 6.0% growth and Norway growing 3.9% are predicted to perform even better.
Poland, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic are expected to exceed 3.0% growth, and Czech Republic is predicted to achieve a 5.7% expansion.
The ERA also makes estimates for rental company capital expenditure, but Petitjean said it was too soon to make forecasts for 2022 and 2023.