The construction sector in Austria is presently booming with 12 percent nominal growth seen in the first half of 2018, Bank Austria stated in a report on Monday.

The positive result follows 7.4 percent growth seen last year, which is expected to accelerate for the current year with growth expected in almost all sub-branches of the industry.

The construction of residential buildings is in particular a strong driver of the growth, while the construction of commercial buildings and the civil engineering sector are expected to come to life in 2018 following more muted results in earlier years.

The boom has led to an increased number of available jobs in the industry, though as the available labor has not kept up with growth, salaries have also seen an increase.

Bank Austria expected 2019 to see a slowdown in growth, however. It said investment opportunities in infrastructure projects have now been partially fulfilled, that rising prices mean demand will eventually slow, and that a slight increase in interest rates is expected to make financing construction projects somewhat less attractive than in recent years.