Reaction to the RICS UK Construction Market Survey

The Vinden Partnership says that the construction industry may to wait until after European Union referendum before the sector picks up.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has released its UK Construction Market Survey revealing that the private housing sector is at its lowest rate since the second quarter of 2013.

The government has pledged to build 200,000 new homes by 2020 and “tackle the crisis of home ownership”.

The survey shows only 36% more respondents saw an increase rather than a drop. In comparison, the figure was closer to 50% in the first quarter of last year.

Looking at the construction industry as a whole, the report showed that 33% more reported a rise in work than a fall during the fourth quarter of 2015. The first quarter of 2016 saw the figure drop 5%.

Confidence in the construction industry appears to have been shaken with those respondents predicting an increase in work over the next 12 months outweighing those forecasting a decrease by 55%. The same period last year saw 79% more respondents expected to see a rise in workload.

Peter Vinden, Managing Director of The Vinden Partnership – a leading multi-disciplinary consultant company to the built environment – said: “Anybody following the recent surveys and analysis of the construction industry, will know the European referendum is creating uncertainty within the sector.

“The ONS recently reported a record increase in housebuilding but there can be little doubt that construction projects are being delayed as investors wait to see how the result of the referendum affects the industry. It may be that we see a glut of project starts later in the year but, in the short term, we can expect the construction industry to remain in this state of flux.”

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