A pick-up in house building helped growth in Britain’s construction sector speed up slightly last month, but the expansion remained weaker than last year’s robust rebound, an industry survey showed on Wednesday.
The CIPS/Markit construction Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 57.3 in August from 57.1 in July, indicating solid growth but below the 57.5 forecast in a Reuters poll and the levels of more than 60 regularly reached in 2014.
“UK construction companies remained on a reasonably strong growth footing in August, helped by a sustained recovery in both residential and commercial building activity,” Tim Moore, an economist at survey compiler Markit, said.
The fastest-growing construction sector was house-building, and commercial work also rose strongly, while civil engineering projects remained in the doldrums.
The Markit survey has painted a more bullish picture this year than official figures, which showed construction rose by just 0.2 percent in the three months to June.
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Craig Erlam
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