May Construction Update from the Department for Business & Trade

The Office for National Statistics published estimates of construction output for March 2024 this morning.

• Monthly construction output is estimated to have decreased 0.4% in volume terms in March 2024; this came from decreases in both new work (0.7% fall) and repair and maintenance (0.1% fall).
• At the sector level, five out of the nine sectors saw a fall in March 2024, with the main contributors to the monthly decrease seen in infrastructure new work, and non-housing repair and maintenance, which decreased 3.6% and 2.4%, respectively.
• Quarterly construction output saw a decrease of 0.9% in Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2024 compared with Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2023; this came solely from a decrease in new work (1.8% fall), as repair and maintenance increased by 0.3%.
• Anecdotal evidence received from survey returns suggested mixed effects of wet weather decreasing output, but improvement across some sectors within construction because of warmer weather. The Met Office confirmed in their Monthly climate summary (PDF, 4.56MB) that March 2024 was unsettled, wet and dull, and saw cooler weather give way to warmer weather during the month.
• Total construction new orders increased 15.9% (£1,436 million) in Quarter 1 2024 compared with Quarter 4 2023; this quarterly increase came mainly from private commercial new work and public other new work, which increased 27.9% (£700 million) and 43.8% (£536 million), respectively.
• The annual rate of construction output price growth was 1.5% in the 12 months to March 2024; this has slowed from the record annual price growth in May 2022 and June 2022 (10.7%).

Download the latest Monthly Construction update for the Department for Business & Trade here.