UK PMI construction rose to 53.1 in June, up from 52.5 and beat expectation of 52.0. Markit noted in the release that house building remains best performing area of activity. Also, new orders rise at fastest pace since May 2017 and input cost inflation accelerates in the month.
Tim Moore, Associate Director at IHS Markit and author of the IHS Markit/CIPS Construction PMI® :
“The latest increase in UK construction output marks three months of sustained recovery from the snow-related disruption seen back in March. A solid contribution from house building helped to drive up overall construction activity in June, while a lack of new work to replace completed civil engineering projects continued to hold back growth.
“Of the three main categories of construction work, commercial building was sandwiched in the middle of the performance table during June. Survey respondents suggested that improved opportunities for industrial and distribution work were the main bright spots, which helped to offset some of the slowdown in retail and office development.
“Stretched supply chains and stronger input buying resulted in longer delivery times for construction materials during June. At the same time, higher transportation costs and rising prices for steel-related inputs led to the fastest increase in cost burdens across the construction sector since September 2017.”
