Construction output suffers slight decline
Annual decline led by weak public housing sector but Construction Products Association says orders remain positive
THE latest construction output figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) indicate modest declines of 1.0% month-on-month and 0.7% year-on-year. Orders, however, have remained positive, with growth of 1.9% year-on-year.
Rebecca Larkin, economist at the Construction Products Association (CPA), commented: ‘While it was disappointing to see the first annual decline in construction output since May 2013, we believe the industry is still fundamentally on course for growth over the coming years.
‘The declines appear to be led by a weak public housing sector, which is no surprise given the Government’s focus on austerity and the resulting decrease in starts. In addition, growth in the private housing sector was slightly less than we would have expected, though it remains a strong sector overall. Finally, the commercial sector was down 3.2% year-on-year, which may be a result of rising costs leading to project delays.’
On a positive note, the CPA says output for both the infrastructure and industrial sectors was notably robust, up 17.3% and 4.9% on the previous year, respectively. These same sectors are also leading the rise in orders.
Ms Larkin concluded: ‘The surveys that we have carried out, along with many from across the industry, support our view that the outlook for the industry is positive. We forecast growth of 4.9% in 2015 and 4.2% in 2016, and 21.7% growth between 2015 and 2019.’
