Sharpest overall rise in construction output since November 2017

The latest IHS Markit/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 53.1 in June, up on 52.5 in May and against the no-change reading of 50, signalling the sharpest overall rise in construction output since November 2017.

Duncan Brock, group director at CIPS, said: “With the fastest rise in new orders since May 2017, it appears the brakes are off for the construction sector. Despite being hampered by economic uncertainty, firms reported an improved pipeline of work as clients committed to projects and hesitancy was swept away.

“Input prices were a challenge with the biggest inflationary rise since September 2017, so the pressure was on to build up stocks of materials rising in price and becoming more scarce. This resulted in a heavy impact on suppliers unable to keep pace as deliveries became laboured and purchasing managers were at their busiest for two and a half years.”

“Housing continued on its positive trajectory for a fifth month and commercial activity also improved after a weak start to the second quarter. However, before we bring out the bunting, the sector is not out of the woods yet and there needs to be further sustainable activity to be convincing. A cloud of uncertainty remains, given the sector’s hit and miss performance so far this year and lower than average business confidence in June.”

Read the latest IHS Markit/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index news report June 2018 in full click here.