Pessimism building ahead of Budget in construction sector

BUSINESS activity expectations within the construction sector have plummeted to their lowest point since late 2022, as firms maintained a pessimistic outlook ahead of the Autumn Budget.

- SAMUEL NORMAN

The most recent Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) from S&P Global revealed that construction output reached a three-month peak of 46.2 - yet remained significantly beneath the crucial 50.0 benchmark that determines whether a sector is expanding.

This represented the ninth successive month that construction dropped below this threshold, indicating a “solid rate of contraction”.

The report noted that business activity expectations remained “subdued” at the second-weakest level since December 2022, with limited optimism counterbalanced by “concerns about the UK economic outlook”.