Euro-area construction output declined for a second month in December as activity in Germany slumped the most in 10 months. Construction in the 17-nation euro area fell 1.7 percent from November, when production dropped 0.4 percent, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. From a year earlier, December output declined 4.8 percent. In Germany, Europe’s largest economy, construction plunged 8.9 percent in December from a month earlier, the biggest decline since February 2012, according to the statistics office. France and Spain both saw a 1.2 percent increase in the latest month, while construction in the Netherlands decreased 0.5 percent. For the fourth quarter, construction in the euro area declined 4.8 percent, the report showed. Euro-area gross domestic product fell 0.6 percent in the quarter, the most since 2009, data showed last week. In the 27-nation EU, December construction fell 2.7 percent from November, when it declined 0.6 percent, according to today’s report. To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Henry in Brussels at phenry8@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at cstirling1@bloomberg.net

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