Construction output increases according to ONS figures

Quarterly and monthly rises reported.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) released its latest construction output figures and the results are extremely positive when looking at the month-by-month and quarterly trends.

Output, which is defined as the amount charged by construction companies to customers for value of work, will certainly give encouragement to the industry if today’s results are anything to go by.

In the second quarter of 2015, which encompasses April to June, output has increased by 0.2% from the level recorded in Q1 2015 (January to March).

The chief reason for this rise is an increase in all new work. This 1% increase has come about because of positive results in private new housing, infrastructure and public other new work.

Although the rise recorded has been offset somewhat by a 1.2% decrease in repair and maintenance, the numbers are strong enough to represent encouragement for the industry, and the three areas mentioned above showed a combined increase of almost 6%.

Even more encouraging is the comparison to the second quarter of 2014. The construction output figure is up by a significant 2.4% in Q2 2015 from the level of Q2 2014.

Further encouragement has come in the form of the level of total housing recorded in the last quarter, which was the highest on record at £7.1Bn.

The increase in infrastructure represents the fourth successive quarter of growth as well.

As well as the quarterly figures, the output recorded in June is also positive, with a 0.9% rise reported from the level of May 2015.

The two main components of work that are chiefly responsible for this increase are all new work and repair and maintenance.

Indeed, the overall output increase can be attributed in no small part to all new work which went up by 1.6% in comparison with May 2015.

In this time, all new housing returned to growth in June, and though infrastructure and other new work remained relatively flat, both of these work types also recorded increases in the month.

The bigger picture shows that June’s output, like the quarterly figures before, shows a significant rise when compared with the corresponding time last year.

In this case, construction output in June 2015 is 2.6% higher than that of June 2014 and all of these results will undoubtedly lead to higher business confidence in the industry.

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