Key Statistics: 18 August 2015

Construction

• Construction output is estimated to have increased by 0.2% during the second quarter of 2015, to stand 2.4% up on a year earlier according to ONS.
  • Growth was driven by a 1% increase in all new work, with private new housing, infrastructure and public other new work increasing by 3.9%, 0.5% and 1.2% respectively against the first quarter of this year. The other new work sectors, social housing, industrial and commercial building all declined.
  • All repair & maintenance work also fell, dropping 1.2% during the quarter and standing 2.2% down on a year earlier.
• RICS report that British house prices rose at their fastest rate in a year last month. A balance of 44% of surveyors responding to its latest monthly survey reported a rise in house prices; this is the highest balance since July 2014. The RICS attributed the rise to increased buyer interest and scarcity of properties on the market, with the average number of properties for sale per surveyor slipping to a record low. Near term expectations for prices also continue to reflect the imbalance between demand and supply with 41% of members expecting prices to continue to rise over the next three months.

Economy

• UK unemployment rose during the second quarter of 2015. ONS report that there were 1.85 million unemployed people (people not in work but seeking and available to work), 25,000 more than for January to March 2015 but 221,000 fewer than for a year earlier. Employment declined, with 31.03 million people in work, 63,000 fewer than for January to March 2015 but 354,000 more than for a year earlier. Pay for employees in Great Britain during the second quarter was 2.4%, including bonuses, higher than a year ago and, excluding bonuses, the rise was 2.8%.
• Output by the production industries increased by 0.7% in 2015 Q2, according to ONS. Growth was largely due to an increase in mining & quarrying which rose by 6.3%. In contrast, manufacturing, the largest component of production, is estimated to have decreased by 0.3%.