Key Statistics: 10 June 2014

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9th June 2014

The Glenigan Index covering the three months to May was 20% higher than a year ago, the 12th consecutive month of growth. The Index, measuring the value of all UK construction projects starting on site worth between £250,000 and £100m, showed a renewed strengthening in non-residential work following modest growth in the first quarter. The private house building and civil engineering sectors both saw the value of starts increase by more than 20% compared to a year earlier.

May’s Markit/CIPS Construction PMI dipped to 60.0 from 60.8 in April. This was the lowest level since October 2013, but remains well above the 50.0 no change level and represents strong expansion in workloads. The dip in the index was a result of a slowdown in growth of commercial activity, with civil engineering work increasing at a faster rate than in April and residential activity remaining the strongest area of growth. Rates charged by sub-contractors increased at the fastest rate since the beginning of the survey 17 years ago, though material input cost inflation eased for the third successive month.

Economy

The number of UK mortgage approvals in April fell to their lowest level since last July, down to 62,918 from 66,563 in March. This was the third consecutive monthly slowdown, and suggests that newly introduced rules on mortgage lending may have a dampening effect on house purchasing activity. Figures from both Nationwide and Halifax show that the annual rate of house price growth increased further in May, to 11.1% according to Nationwide and 8.7% according to Halifax.
May’s Markit/CIPS Manufacturing and Services PMIs both fell slightly on April but remained at levels indicating strong expansion in output and new orders. The surveys recorded strong levels of job creation across both industries.
The UK trade deficit in goods widened to £9.6bn in April, from £8.3bn in March, due to an increase in imports and falling exports to both the EU and the rest of the world. This estimate is expected to be revised downwards, due to £700m of oil exports which were omitted from the ONS’ calculations, though even accounting for this the deficit still increased from March.