Positive growth in the construction industry of 0.4% is welcome news but
masks the serious fall in housing output, says Federation of Master Builders
(FMB) in response to the latest ONSConstruction data for September 2023.
Brian Berry Chief Executive of the
FMB said: “In
what is looking like a difficult period for our industry, it is pleasing to see
growth in construction output this month, which has contributed to overall
gains for this quarter.
“Whilst both the private housing and non-housing repair and maintenance
sectors are performing well, this should not distract from the fact that the
uptake of new work has continued to fall this month, and presents a major
long-term challenge to the overall outlook.
“The strong performance of repair and maintenance cannot be allowed to mask
the fact that this month’s modest overall growth in construction output follows
two consecutive months of falls, and that house building rates remain in
decline.
“Action to rectify this alarming decline in new housing was a notable
absence from this week’s King’s Speech and the Government needs to make this an
urgent priority going into the new year.”
Monthly construction output is estimated to have increased 0.4% in volume terms in September 2023; this came solely from an increase in repair and maintenance (2.1%), partially offset by a decrease in new work (0.8% fall) on the month.
At the sector level, three out of the nine sectors saw a rise in September 2023, with the main contributor to the monthly increase seen in private housing repair and maintenance, which increased 3.0%.
Quarterly construction output increased 0.1% in Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2023 compared with Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2023, this came solely from growth in September 2023 after two months of falls; the quarterly increase was because of repair and maintenance (0.7%), while new work saw a decrease of 0.3%.
Total construction new orders increased 3.9% (£393 million) in Quarter 3 2023 compared with Quarter 2 2023; this quarterly rise came mainly from public other new orders and infrastructure new orders, which increased 23.7% (£265 million) and 14.3% (204 million), respectively.
The annual rate of construction output price growth was 3.9% in the 12 months to September 2023; this has slowed from the record annual price growth in May 2022 (10.4%).
