* Q1 pretax profit 451 million SEK vs consensus 678 million
* Construction order intake 21.6 bln SEK, consensus 27.2 bln
* Says construction market recovery relatively slow
* Shares down 6.1 percent, hit eight-month low
(Adds CEO, analyst, detail, background, updates shares)
By Anna Ringstrom and Oskar von Bahr
STOCKHOLM, May 5 (Reuters) - Swedish building group Skanska AB expects austerity in key markets to hit its order books and has sold less property than expected, it said on Thursday as it posted quarterly earnings well below forecast.
Skanska shares dropped 6.2 percent to 120.60 crowns by 1100 GMT, making it the European FTSEurofirst 300 index's second-biggest loser at that time. The stock fell as low as 117.60 crowns, its lowest since September.
In home market Sweden, where the housing market has boomed due to low interest rates, Skanska has run into problems recruiting staff and it lost out on some orders due to being more expensive, it said.
"The market recovery has been slower than expected after the financial crisis and we are disappointed with the order intake," Chief Executive Johan Karlstrom told Reuters.
Though the Nordic markets felt very stable, other countries were not so certain, he said.
"In other markets, especially in Britain and the Czech Republic, we have to expect a considerably weaker market ... as authorities simply will have less money to spend."
Britain, the Czech Republic and the United States, which are among Skanska's main markets, are among countries being forced to take austerity measures to rein in large public deficits.
PRETTY WEAK
Pretax profit at the Nordic region's biggest builder halved to 451 million crowns ($74.2 million) from a year before, below a mean forecast of 678 million in a Reuters poll.
The group said it suffered from a 200 million crown one-off hit in its Norwegian construction operations as well as from fewer property sales in its commercial property and infrastructure development units.
"We haven't sold any property or PPP (public-private partnership) roads in the quarter," Karlstrom said.
One analyst said: "The residential part is performing well but, besides that, it looks pretty weak."
Quarterly order bookings at the construction unit, which accounts for more than 90 percent of total revenue, fell to 21.6 billion crowns, well below a consensus forecast for 27.2 billion, amid weak demand in many markets.
In Sweden, where the economy is booming, Skanska held back on bidding for new business due to a long order backlog and high capacity utilisation, it said.
Skanska spokesman Pontus Winqvist said: "It's not that we have chosen not to bid for new contracts. Our offers for new contracts have been somewhat more expensive than competitors' because of tighter capacity utilisation, which has resulted in us winning fewer contracts than we usually do."
Winqvist said Skanska is close to its capacity utilisation limit in some parts of Sweden. "There is an increased need for certain staff such as project managers, construction site managers." (Additional reporting by Christopher Jungstedt; Editing by Hans Peters and David Holmes) ($1=6.082 Swedish Crown)