UK construction PMI drops further to 52.1 in September, misses expectations

The construction sector activity in the UK economy grew at the weakest pace in six months in September, a fresh report from Markit Economics showed on Tuesday.

The final Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) came in at 52.1 in September, down from a 3-month low of 52.9 seen in August while missing estimates (52.5 expected).

Key Points:

All three sub-sectors record a loss of momentum since August.

Solid increases in new work and employment.

Business optimism at second-lowest level since February 2013.

Tim Moore, Senior Economist at IHS Markit and author of the Markit/CIPS Construction PMI ®, noted:

“UK construction firms experienced softer output growth during September, with house building, commercial and civil engineering all losing momentum. A lack of new work to replace completed projects meant that civil engineering saw an overall decline in activity for the second month running and remained the main laggard.”

“There were mixed signals in terms of the near-term outlook. New order books strengthened to the greatest extent since December 2016, which indicates that construction workloads remain on an upward trajectory. Rising demand and tight labour market conditions led to robust job creation, with survey respondents commenting on a larger-thanusual uptake of apprentices in September.”