Buyers report slowdown in construction decline

The bellwether S&P International UK Building Buying Managers’ Index recorded 46.2 in September up from 45.5 in August.

The most recent studying was under the impartial 50.0 valuenfor the ninth consecutive month and nonetheless signalled a strong fee of contraction.

The slower discount in general development exercise in September was helped by a weaker fall in residential constructing work (index at 46.8).

Civil engineering (42.9) was the weakest-performing phase, though exercise additionally decreased at a softer tempo than in August. Industrial development (46.4) was the one sub-sector to register a sooner fee of decline in September.

A scarcity of recent venture begins was once more the primary issue holding again development output. September information indicated that order books deteriorated for the ninth month in a row, albeit solely marginally and on the slowest tempo over this era.

Tim Moore, Economics Director at S&P International Market Intelligence, mentioned: “September information instructed that the UK development sector confronted stress on a number of fronts as residential, business and civil engineering work all continued to lower at strong charges. Decrease volumes of general development output have been recorded since January, though the newest discount was the slowest for 3 months and the downturn in new orders was the softest to this point in 2025.

“Enterprise exercise expectations for the 12 months forward had been among the many lowest for the reason that finish of 2022, suggesting that development firms remained cautious in regards to the near-term outlook and have but to see a turning level on the horizon. Some corporations hope for a lift from decrease borrowing prices and famous new gross sales pipelines in areas corresponding to vitality safety markets and infrastructure tasks. Nevertheless, many survey respondents reported warning amongst purchasers forward of the Autumn Price range and a normal reluctance to decide to main capital expenditure tasks towards a subdued home financial backdrop.

“Weak enterprise optimism, shrinking workloads and sturdy price pressures as soon as once more led to decrease employment numbers throughout the development sector. Decrease staffing ranges have now been recorded for 9 months in a row, which is the longest interval of job shedding for the reason that pandemic.”