The thing that really stands out over the past few years is that, despite the recent pick-up, dwelling investment as a share of the economy remains close to the troughs of over a decade ago (Graph 9). This relatively low level of dwelling construction raises the question of whether demand has been particularly weak or whether supply issues have constrained construction activity.
The third option – “co-branding” – was deemed less favourable because it would perpetuate the existing situation, where schemes are protected from competition by national borders. If the majority of schemes were to opt for co-branding and this situation were to become  2  BIS Review 135/2010  permanent, the market would remain highly fragmented.