The Office of National Statistics has released figures for UK construction output in August 2020.
Following record monthly construction output growth in June (21.8%) and July (17.2%) of 2020, growth slowed to 3.0% in August. Although output rose to £12,455 million, this was still 10.8% below all work construction output series compared with February 2020, before the full impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Following pent up demand, construction output grew by 18.5% in the 3 months to August following 10 consecutive periods of decline. A record three-month on three-month growth saw a 17.5% rise in new work and a 20.3% rise in repair and maintenance work. The rise in new work is accredited to growth in a new work sectors such as new housing (34.9% growth) although the private industrial sector fell by 6.5%.
Private housing repair and maintenance grew by 35.6% and is accredited to record growth in all maintenance and repair sectors.
The good news is that the growth in August is the fourth continuous month of growth since April 2020 which saw a record decline of 41.2%. Since April output grew by a record 9.1% in May, 21.8% in June, and 17.2% in July 2020 before slowing to 3.0% in August.