UK: construction activity falls in August

The UK's Office of National Statistics has released its construction figures for August that saw a fall of 1.5 per cent in construction activity. Decreases were seen in all new work as well as the repair and maintenance segments of 1.4 and 1.5 per cent, respectively.

Infrastructure suffered the biggest downturn of 5.1 per cent. In comparison, July saw a 6.1 per cent rise in infrastructure.

Meanwhile, total new housing declined 1.3 per cent in comparison with the previous month, while decreases were seen in both public and private new housing of 2.1 and 1.2 per cent, respectively. Compared with the same period in 2015, there was an increase of 7.9 per cent in total new housing – the ninth consecutive period of YoY growth. There was a rise of 9.4 per cent in private new housing, which was offset slightly by a fall of 0.8 per cent in public new housing.

In addition, July's construction figure was revised upwards from a one per cent drop to a rise of 0.5 per cent.