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| Switzerland named the most expensive place to build Construction costs in Switzerland are more than 25% higher than anywhere else in the world, according to the annual International Construction Cost Comparison Report released by built asset consultancy EC Harris. The annual report, which benchmarks the construction costs in 55 countries across the globe using UK prices as a baseline, found that Europe continues to be the most expensive continent in which to build, providing eight of the top ten entrants in the final league table. According to the report, the price of construction in Switzerland is 71% higher than in the UK where costs are now more than 20% below their peak price in mid-2008. Overall, the UK is now tied with Bahrain as the twelfth most expensive place in the world to build, up four places from 2010 where it finished in sixteenth place. However, this has been largely due to falling costs in other countries rather than rising prices in the UK where construction costs have continued to drop over the last twelve months, with contractors prepared to work for ever slimmer profit margins to try and secure work in an increasingly competitive arena. Denmark retained its position as the second most expensive place to build, closely followed by its Scandinavian neighbour Sweden. Australia and Canada were the only non-European markets to make it into the top ten although Bahrain just missed out, finishing in twelfth place overall alongside the UK. India and Sri Lanka were tied as the cheapest countries in which to build with construction costs estimated to be 72% cheaper than the UK baseline. write your comments about the article :: © 2011 Construction News :: home page |