- Prior 44.1
Ouch, that's a bummer. The drop in November marks the steepest downturn in UK construction output for five-and-a-half years, with all three subsectors seeing the greatest fall in activity since May 2020. That comes amid a sharp reduction in both new orders and employment. Meanwhile, business optimism also sank to its weakest since December 2022. S&P Global notes that:
"November data revealed a sharp retrenchment across the UK construction sector as weak client confidence and a shortfall of new project starts again weighed on activity.
"Total industry activity decreased to the greatest extent for five-and-a-half years, led by steep falls in infrastructure and residential building work. Commercial construction also faced severe headwinds during November as business uncertainty in the run up to the Budget pushed clients to defer investment decisions.
"Lower workloads, alongside pressure on margins from rising wages and purchasing costs, continued to dampen staff hiring in November. The latest round of job cuts was the most marked since August 2020."
"Construction companies also signalled a slide in business activity expectations for the year ahead as hopes of an imminent rebound in sales pipelines faded in November. The degree of optimism dropped to its lowest since December 2022 amid reports of cutbacks to client budgets and pervasive worries about long-term UK economic growth prospects."
