The latest construction activity survey by Markit/CIPS suggests that the construction market remains pretty buoyant, with a monthly growth rate at 56.4 for March. This was above the long-term average of around 54. However, you should be a bit cautious before drawing the conclusion that the industry is in fine fettle from these figures. Not that many with a grip on reality would.
House prices are showing signs of greater stability after the falls in the second half of last year. Today Hometrack released figures showing prices in March were just 0.1% down while Nationwide released a figure of plus 0.5%. But the big question on everyone’s mind is where to from here for the market as homebuyers and sellers adjust to the squeeze within the economy. And among construction folk what does this all mean for house building.
A shot in the arm, said the Home Builders Federation release sent out after Chancellor George Osborne sat down. And the Budget certainly lifted the already rising share prices of the quoted builders quite nicely. It must be said that comment came as no shock, as this was yet another ask or two or three by house builders that have been favourably answered by the incumbent Government. Putting in a presumption in favour of sustainable development in the planning law…
Research released this week by the think tank ippr painted a gloomy picture of house shortages in England growing disturbingly in the years to 2025, by which time it reckons we could have demand outstripping supply by 750,000 homes. It’s a stab at trying to predict what might happen and there will always be problems with research of this kind. It is, for instance, not inconceivable that if Britain’s economy becomes less attractive we may see a significant rise in…
Well there we have it. 2010 was another awful year for building new private homes in England with fewer than 81,000 completed, compared with almost 154,000 in the peak year of 2007. And look closer into the latest official house building figures and we see than in many of the English regions, particularly in the North, the level of private house building is now running well below half of what it was in 2007. When you add in the homes…
The latest survey by the surveyors’ body RICS appears to add as much uncertainty as it does clarity over which way and how fast the housing market is shifting. The headline figures suggest that house prices fell in January, but at a slower rate that in December. Is this good news or bad news?
Taking the latest monthly construction survey from the buyers’ body CIPS at face value we could be tempted into thinking all is looking well set for the year. The overall index bounced sharply back from 49.1 to 53.7 – that means from below the 50 no change mark to a figure that suggests reasonably sound growth. And, says the survey release, there was not just a boost to work done but a rise in new business. More encouragingly optimism among…
Both buyers and sellers appeared to be fleeing the housing market in December, according to the latest housing market survey from the surveyors’ body RICS. The intriguing question is whether this was a freak result cause by heavy falls of snow or are we seeing a climate change in the housing market. Certainly the RICS points understandably to the bad weather as a factor in the results. But we will have to wait for later results to provide a firmer…
The latest Experian forecast on the face of it paints a picture of a rockier road for construction over the coming few years compared with its previous forecast. But on balance it is a slightly more optimistic picture of the path ahead for construction than is suggested by other forecast released recently. The impact of the economic stimulus on construction was perhaps stronger and more immediate than many might have expected and hence the withdrawal of the stimulus and the…
The official figures for orders for new construction work in the third quarter of this year were not a particular surprise, but they do reveal starkly just how fragile prospects are for the industry. The graph below shows clearly the impact of the fiscal stimulus, which reversed the tailspin in orders. But now that public spending is in retreat we are seeing orders fall away at an accelerating rate. So in time we should expect to see the same for…