New KWD Market Report on Heating & Plumbing Pipes in Europe published

Somehow, we had hoped to find a more carefree political and economic situation this year, one that would allow for significantly more positive forecasts, but unfortunately, that did not come to pass.

However, Euroconstruct expects to see slight increases in new construction again starting in 2026, even though the network also had to revise its projected new construction figures downward. However, renovation remains an important factor, and this sector also requires a significant number of meters of pipe.

According to Euroconstruct, residential construction will indeed begin to expand again starting in 2026, and the new-construction segment will grow by a total of 14% by 2028. However, the completion rate per 1,000 residents will increase by a modest amount, from just under 3.0 to only 3.2 housing units by that time. Meanwhile, according to the network, the focus is increasingly shifting to the existing housing stock, whose share of residential construction output rose by a good five percentage points to over 62% between 2021 and 2024. This reflects the growing need for renovation and remodeling, the importance of government subsidies, but also the challenges facing new construction, which contracted by 17% from 2023 to 2024. With the expected revival of new construction, the share of work on existing housing stock will fall back to just under 60% by 2028.

ggg

Structure of the KWD Market Study

As always, we have estimated the current and future pipe consumption in the Euroconstruct area for this KWD Market Report on the basis of statistical values and forecasts for completions and modernizations in residential and non-residential construction. The data from the Euroconstruct Summer Conference 2026 served as the basis for this.

The KWD Market + Charts report “Heating & Plumbing Pipes Europe 2026” estimates the pipe quantities in millions of meters used in domestic installations in the 19 Euroconstruct countries for the years 2024 – 2028. As always, the estimated pipe quantities are broken down by application areas and pipe materials.

The sector of Heating & Plumbing Pipes is divided into the three areas:

• Surface heating & cooling (floor, wall and ceiling)
• Radiator connection
• Sanitary installations

The application areas are broken down by the following pipe materials:

• Metal pipes: steel / copper / stainless steel
• Plastic pipes: PEX / PE-RT / PP-R / PB
• Multilayer composite pipes: PEX or PE-RT with a middle layer of Aluminium

Trends in pipe materials

Looking at the study period – that is, 2 years before and 2 years after the current year, 2026 – it appears that the market positions of pipe materials have stabilized.

• It is certainly still the case that PE-RT is gaining ground somewhat in the underfloor heating sector and is undoubtedly taking market share from PEX, but this is only noticeable on a smaller scale.
• And in the area of hot- and cold-water installations as well, the market positions are quite stable. Copper continues to face challenges due to persistently high price increases and is losing market share to multilayer pipes, but this trend is also noticeable only to a limited extent.

The massive shifts in materials that we saw more than 10 years ago, have calmed down.

The price of the study remains at 1,200 € for our subscribers, for all others 1.450,- € (in Germany plus Tax, abroad with prepayment). Authors are as always Jutta Hix, chief editor of the KWD information services and Achim Seydel of Seydel Consulting. Orders will be accepted by email or completed order form. The KWD Market Report is only available in digital form.