Output in the construction industry, December and Q4 2013
Construction output estimates are a short-term indicator of construction output by the private sector and public corporations within Great Britain and are produced from a monthly survey of 8,000 businesses in Great Britain. The estimates are produced and published at current prices (including inflationary price effects) and at chained volume estimates (with inflationary effects removed) both seasonally adjusted and non-seasonally adjusted.
Key points:
– The seasonally adjusted estimate of construction output in Q4 2013 is estimated to have risen by 0.2% when compared with Q3 2013. During this period there was an increase in the volume of construction new work of 0.7% but a decrease in the output of repair & maintenance of 0.5%.
– The monthly output of construction in December 2013 is estimated to be 2.0% higher when compared with November 2013. The pattern seen in the quarterly data is repeated in the monthly data, with new work showing growth (3.4%) alongside a slight fall in the output of repair & maintenance (0.2%).
– When comparing the 2013 annual data with 2012, the output of the construction industry is estimated to have risen by 1.3% (£1.49bn). During these 12 months new work increased 2.4% (£1.62bn) although there was a slight decrease in repair and maintenance of 0.3% (£0.14bn).
– The estimated annual volume of construction output in 2013 of £112.6bn is 3.9% greater than the level recorded during the economic downturn in 2009. However, construction output remains 12.2% below its peak of £128.2bn recorded in 2007.
– Despite a slow beginning to the year where construction output fell 1.0% in Q1, output grew steadily throughout the year and has produced three consecutive quarters of growth for the first time since Q3 2010.
– When comparing the like for like components of the public and private sectors over 2013 there is a marked difference between the two sectors. During 2013 construction output of the three aggregates (new housing, other new work and housing repair and maintenance) show that public spending on construction has fallen year on year by 4.0% (£0.9bn) while private spending has increased 3.4% (£1.85bn).
– The 1.3% annual growth in construction output is almost solely contained within the new housing sector which has increased 10.4% (£2.1bn) year on year with a small growth contribution from non-housing repair & maintenance of 0.7%. These increases were in contrast to the decrease in other new work of 0.9% (£0.45bn) and housing repair & maintenance which fell 1.3% (£0.57bn).
– The Preliminary Estimate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) published on 28 January 2014 contained a forecast for quarterly construction output of minus 0.3%. This estimate has been revised within this release based on updated survey responses and is now estimated to have grown 0.2%, an upward revision of 0.5 percentage points. This upward revision has no effect on the preliminary estimate of GDP growth to 1 decimal place. Construction currently accounts for 6.3% of GDP.
– The revision to the figure published in Q4 GDP is due to later returns across all types of work being stronger than those used in the preliminary estimate of GDP.
Getall the tables for this publication in the data section of this publication here.