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Tag: construction industry

Latest construction output figures support recession fears

Latest construction output figures support recession fears

The latest construction output figures add further weight to fears that the industry is heading into recession. At first glance the figures may seem reasonably positive. The volume of work carried out in the three months to January was a shade (0.7%) up on last year. This seems to suggest that construction is holding its own in tough circumstances. Looked at on an annualised basis construction has been broadly flat since May last year, as we can see from the…

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Why calling for housing QE is not special pleading: Part 2

Why calling for housing QE is not special pleading: Part 2

If growing calls to use quantitative easing to directly stimulate weaker parts of the economy lead to a change in approach by the Bank of England it would leave a tricky question. That’s the question Sir Mervyn King, the Bank’s Governor, threw back at Treasury Committee member Andy Love last week. He asked: “Can you give me an example of the asset you think we should be purchasing. I asked the previous Chancellor and got no reply.” Mr Love gave…

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Why calling for housing QE is not special pleading: Part 1

Why calling for housing QE is not special pleading: Part 1

Over recent months there’s been a growing mood to exploit the power of quantitative easing to accelerate growth in key parts of the UK economy and for the Bank of England to buy other assets other than Gilts – UK Government bonds. Here in Part 1 I’ll be looking at the background to these calls and, in Part 2, I’ll look at why, if we are to experiment further with QE, we should look to housing as the alternative to Gilts…

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A tale of two indicators – what to make of the latest construction PMI and orders figures

A tale of two indicators – what to make of the latest construction PMI and orders figures

When construction indicators point in different directions what are we to make of it? The February Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index released today is very bullish, suggesting the best growth for 14 months and the best month for new business for 21 months. Meanwhile, the official ONS construction new orders figures for the final quarter of last year were very downbeat. They showed a gloomier picture, with orders down on the previous quarter by 2.5%, down 15.4% on a year earlier….

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Plant hire activity rises again in 2011 Q4

Plant hire activity rises again in 2011 Q4

Thanks to swift and generous efforts made by the Office for National Statistics I can give you the latest official update of activity in the rental and leasing world. The latest data – a non-published sub-set of the Index of Services released this morning – shows a continued rise in the amount of work done by plant hire firms in the final quarter. I have also updated the construction output figures to the latest index provided in the GDP series….

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Why Construction Products Association is right to push quantitative easing for house building

Why Construction Products Association is right to push quantitative easing for house building

The Construction Products Association has called on the Chancellor to pave the way so that quantitative easing can be exploited to fund house building. And there seems to be growing backing within the construction sector and without for using the quantitative easing machine as means to increase the number of homes being built.

Plant hire firms continue to rebuild prices

Plant hire firms continue to rebuild prices

Plant hire firms continued on their journey of rebuilding prices throughout last year with the latest figures from the services producer prices series showing another upward tick. Prices in the final quarter of 2011 were up about 3% on a year ago. Against consumer price inflation, currently running at 3.6%, and in the face of upward pressure on costs, this hardly suggests times have got easy for the sector. But with activity recently on the up, see graph, and with firms…

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Things seem to be getting worse slower for architects and engineers

Things seem to be getting worse slower for architects and engineers

Encouraging perhaps, the latest statistics on the prospects and performance for architects and engineers seem to be of the “not so negative” variety. The December data from the Office for National Statistics’ Turnover and Orders in Production and Services Industries show what could be regarded as real growth for architectural and engineering services in 2011. Last year the sector delivered in cash terms £43.3 billion of turnover compared with £41.4 billion in 2010. This was a rise of about 4.5% and…

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Latest construction data underline tough challenge for the industry in 2012

Latest construction data underline tough challenge for the industry in 2012

The latest official statistics show construction output fell by 0.5% in the final quarter of last year. That is in line with the statisticians’ estimate put out with last month’s GDP data. This fall fits with the raft of other industry data that has shown construction work falling. And it also fits with industry forecasts that construction is set to dive into recession again for the best part a couple of years.