New work for the construction industry increased 0.2% in the last quarter of 2015 according to the Office for National Statistics.
Despite the increase in new work, overall output decreased by 0.4% compared with Q3 in 2015, which is mostly due to a 1.4% downturn in repair and maintenance work.
Of that 1.4% in new work, much is down to an increase in housing, which increased in value by 4% over the final quarter. And whilst Q3 did represent a significant dip compared to Q2, the value of housing work is now at a higher level than at any other time in the preceding ten years at £7.17 billion.
Year on year, total construction output has increased by 3.4% with all new work increasing by 6.8% and repair and maintenance down 2.2%
The preliminary estimate of gross domestic product (GDP) for Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2015 published on 28 January 2016 contained a forecast for construction output of a fall of 0.1%.
This estimate has been revised within this release based upon updated survey responses; output is now estimated to have decreased by 0.4%. This downward revision to construction output has no impact to 1 decimal place on GDP growth.
