- Markit
The housebuilding activity in Britain remained steady in March, against economists' expectations for a slight drop. The Markit/CIPS construction PMI stood at 54.2 last month, unchanged from February's 10-month low. The gauge marked the 35th month in a row of growth, but indicated the slowest rate of output growth since June 2013. Although there was a recovery in commercial and civil engineering work in March, Markit reported that the rebound was offset by the residential housing sector, which recorded the weakest pace of growth since January 2013 despite efforts by the government to spur more housebuilding. Construction companies were more cautious over hiring last month, with the rate of employment growth falling to the slowest rate since June 2013. Moreover, 51% of survey respondents said they anticipate an increase in business activity at their units over the next 12 months, while only 11% forecast a slowdown. However, while this signalled that UK construction companies remain sanguine about their prospects for growth, the overall degree of confidence was the joint-lowest since December 2014.
UK GDP growth for the fourth quarter was revised up to 0.6% from a previous estimate of 0.5%. However, more recent data has pointed to a decline in the pace of expansion in the first three months of 2016.
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