The Purchasing Managers’ Index for builders rose to 51.4% in February – up by 1.2% since January – but the new work index for the UK construction industry has fallen again, a survey has shown
The report has exposed a dip in orders for the UK construction industry and is said to have reflected the sector’s recession which has continued on into 2018.
Representatives from the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply have described the recent state of the UK construction industry as “flat as pancake”.
Duncan Brock of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply said:
“The sector was feeling as flat as a pancake in February with falls in new orders for the second month in a row and with just a marginal rise in overall activity, as ongoing political and economic uncertainty shouldered the blame.”
The Office for National Statistics explained that, throughout the final three quarters of 2017, UK construction output fell dramatically and put the sector into a recession.
Statistics show that in 2017, there was a drop in output of 0.7% throughout October, November and December.
Reported by The Independent, Samuel Tombs, Chief U.K. Economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics said:
“The near-term outlook for the construction sector remains bleak.
Hopes that a Brexit transition deal could be agreed by the end of this month now look forlorn, so businesses will remain reluctant to commit to long-term capital expenditure. Rising mortgage rates will subdue demand for new houses. Meanwhile, public sector investment is set to fall in 2018/19.”
The survey showed great strides for the civil engineering sector which showed activity in the industry has contracted at its sharpest pace for the past 5 months.
Results show that the housebuilding sector generally suffered from a slight decline with the exception of a surge in commercial building, which grew at its fastest rate since May 2017.
