Featured Region: Wales

The value of project starts rose by 20% in Wales in 2012, and this has fed into strong levels of overall workloads in 2013 according to ONS statistics. However while output was rising, the flow of new starts fell back sharply in 2013. Although there has been a subsequent recovery in project starts, the drop in new projects last year is expected to act as a break on construction output near term as existing projects reach completion during the current year.

The longer term prospects are brighter however, with forward indicators pointing to a strengthening in output growth during 2015. The value of underlying detailed planning approvals rose by a third last year and remained firm during the first eight. The value of project starts has also turned around, being 14% up on the same period of last year.

The Help to Buy initiative was only introduced by the Welsh Assembly in January 2014, and we anticipate this will boost private housing starts in the principality. Over the year to Q1 2014 Wales saw the slowest house price growth of any part of the UK, according to Nationwide statistics.

Wales consists of the following Counties: Clwyd, Dyfed, Gwent, Gwynedd, Mid Glamorgan, Powys, South Glamorgan, West Glamorgan.