Fernando de Querol Cumbrera
Research expert covering construction, loans, leasing, savings, and debt
Construction industry in Mexico - statistics & facts
Mexico has recently had the largest construction industry in Latin America. In 2023, the gross domestic product (GDP) of construction in Mexico was nearly twice higher than that of Brazil. That was despite the fact that Brazil had a significantly larger population and had the largest economy of the continent. This has been because the construction industry has played a particularly big role in Mexico. While on average construction made up 4.67 percent of the GDP in Latin America in 2023, in Mexico it reached 6.74 percent.
If these plans manage to bolster the residential segment, while civil engineering remains high, the construction industry in Mexico could see significant growth in the coming years.
Mexico focuses on railway infrastructure
The construction of transportation infrastructure was one the largest segments in civil engineering in Mexico. Highways, roads, and bridges made up over half of the production value of the transport infrastructure urban development construction segment between 2018 and 2022. But this changed in 2023 when railway works soared, as this was responsible for nearly 124 of the 214 billion Mexican pesos of the transportation infrastructure segment. This may have been related to several major railway projects having started in the past few years. Apart from the Mayan train, some sections of which entered into operation in 2023, there are other important projects such as México-Querétaro and México-Pachuca. As of December 2024, there were seven governmental railway projects with private investment under development.Not enough homes built in Mexico
Recently, there has been a lot of focus on the housing shortage in Mexico. Despite this attention, the construction industry has not been able to meet new housing demands. The number of housing units built in Mexico have plummeted from over 301,800 in 2015 to roughly 131,050 in 2023. This has also translated into fewer homes produced per capita in Mexico, with that number amounting to 1.02 housing units per 1,000 residents in 2023. In comparison, the housing units completed per thousand citizens in most European countries was much higher, even in countries that also have a housing shortage problem, such as the United Kingdom and Germany. The new president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, presented in October 2024 an ambitious plan to boost the production of homes.If these plans manage to bolster the residential segment, while civil engineering remains high, the construction industry in Mexico could see significant growth in the coming years.
