The construction sector resists the onslaught of the crisis caused by the coronavirus health pandemic and faces the second wave of infections with more workers and the same number of companies.
The latest data from the Construction Labor Foundation Observatory show that the number of Social Security affiliates in the construction sector has grown by 2.9% in the last year with a total figure of 15,476 workers, that is 450 more than a year ago.
In addition, the number of companies is also maintained despite the health crisis and the decline in investment in public bidding by the administrations. The latest data from the Construction Observatory showing the evolution until the end of August, indicate that in the province of Castellón there are 1,857 companies in this sector, that is, 9.9% of the total, with only a decrease of 0, 6%.
 «The construction sector had come from such a difficult situation in recent years that the pandemic is not affecting seriously at the moment, since the projects that had been started before have followed its pace at the moment in which it was allowed by the health authorities, ”explains the president of the Valencian Federation of Construction Entrepreneurs (Fevec), Francisco Zamora.
There is, however, uncertainty with the evolution that may occur in the medium and long term.  «And this is where The deficit that exists in terms of public works bidding by the administrations must be corrected », remembers Zamora.
In this sense, the president of Fevec considers that the arrival of European funds will be crucial to be able to sustain the construction activity if public administrations focus on boost the infrastructure deficit suffered by the Community Valenciana as a wholeÂ.
The evolution of the construction sector is taking place not only in the province of Castellón, but also in the whole of the Valencian Community. In this way, the sector employs a total of 127,411 workers throughout the region, 2.3% more than a year ago, as can be seen from the statistics of the Construction Labor Observatory.
The increase of employment has occurred so much in the general scheme of Social Security as in the collective of autonomous.
In the case of the province of Castellón, the annual variation in the affiliation of workers to Social Security in the construction sector in terms of the general regime has been one 4.1% increase, with a total of 10,432 workers, which means that the majority of construction workers are salaried.
For its part, the evolution of self-employment it has also grown, although in a much more restrained way (+0,6%). Construction has 5,044 self-employed workers, a third of the total.
In the whole of the Valencian Community, the construction sector also adds both employed workers (+ 1.6%) and self-employed (+ 3.7%), with a total of 84,819 and 42,593 workers, respectively, for a total of 127,411 (+ 2.3%).
All the provinces add members in construction in similar percentages, Castellón leads the increase (+ 2.9%), but Valencia (+ 2.3%) and Alicante (2%) follow closely. The trend in the Community contrasts with a national data that shows a first negative variation (-0.7%).
HOUSING PRICE BEGINS THE DOWN
Despite the resistance of the construction sector, at least according to data from the Observatory of the Labor Foundation for Construction until the end of August, Covid-19 will leave its mark on the residential market in Castellón. The house prices will fall due to the pandemic and it won’t be until the 2022 horizon when the trend changes again, albeit shyly. According to a projection made by the appraiser of the Valencian Community Euroval and its Real Estate Analysis Institute (Instai)  «prices will begin a de-escalation that will last at least until the end of next year».
The report points out that the average price per square meter in the province of Castellón as a whole will foreseeably fall from 1,067 euros that were recorded in the fourth quarter of last year 2019 up to 994 euros planned for the same period of 2022.
In total, the accumulated decrease for the 2020-2022 period will be 6.9% compared to the last quarter of last year 2019.
The projected fall in house prices according to Euroval will mean a certain return to the starting point. Covid-19 is going to be noticed in the evolution of the price of housing in Castellón which, predictably and until the end of 2021, you will lose all revaluation gained since 2015, when the residential market entered a new bull cycle. This is the main conclusion that emerges from a projection for the triennium 2020-2023 carried out by the appraiser Euroval and its Institute of Real Estate Analysis based on a predictive model of four key variables in the formation of the price of a housing: the average bank rate, the existing residential stock, the employment rate and the evolution of residential prices itself.
Although constant in the analyzed period, there will be a rather irregular drop, very marked in this year and more moderate in 2021.  «Only in 2002 will there be a timid increase of 0.5% », states the report from the appraiser Euroval and its Institute of Real Estate Analysis.
CONSTRUCTION STATISTICS
- Public tender. The volume of public bidding accumulated until July 2020 registered a total of 736.6 million euros in the whole of the Valencian Community, 5.5% less than in the same period of the previous year and represents 10% of the total volume tendered nationwide.
- Mortgages. The accumulated number of home mortgages up to June amounted to 19,259 in the Valencian Community as a whole, 8.4% less than in the same period of the previous year. In the case of the province of Castellón, a total of 2,135 home mortgages were registered, representing a drop of 6.8%. The accumulated total of mortgages, both on homes and on other properties, reached the figure of 27,228 in the Community, 8.4% less. In the case of the province of Castellón there have been 3,084, which represents a decline of 6 , 8%.
- Visas Authorized new construction visas for residential use stood at 5,099 units until May 2020 in the Valencian Community, which represents a negative variation of 2.9% compared to the previous year.
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