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Summary
- Macroeconomic factors showcased a meaningful rise in April 2021
- UK construction output surged 77.9 per cent, ONS data showed
- Sharp growth was primarily due to low base in April 2020
- In the three months to April, the output has grown by 5.1 per cent
Continuing the upward trend of economic reversal, the macroeconomic factors showcased a meaningful rise in April 2021 led by a strong bounce back in all the major components including the construction output, manufacturing and industrial production.
The construction sector recorded the biggest growth rate of all time in April, while the reading stood 2 per cent below the output recognised in March 2021.
According to the data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the construction output in the UK surged 77.9 per cent, year-on-year (YoY) in April 2021, witnessing the highest growth rate on record.
The sharp growth in the construction sector was primarily due to low base in April 2020 as the UK underwent the first national lockdown during which almost all the construction related activities came to a standstill. During April 2020, the construction output fell drastically by 45.4, registering the biggest contraction on record.
The construction of new houses advanced as much as 146.3 per cent, repair and maintenance related tasks grew by 78.8 per cent, while all new work soared by 77.3 per cent. Even with a moderate sequential decline in the reporting month, the April reading stands 0.3 per cent above the output recorded in February 2020, the pre-pandemic era.
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The level of repair and maintenance remained strong in April, while new work continued the downsurge, the ONS said. The new work declined by 2.9 per cent on a month-on-month (MoM) basis in April 2021 and construction works related to repair and maintenance shed 0.6 per cent. Notably, the level of new work in April remained 3.4 per cent lower, whereas repair and maintenance works stood 7.1 per cent higher as compared to the reading recorded in February 2021.
In the three months to April 2021, the construction output has grown 5.1 per cent as compared to the previous three-month period, largely led by the 5.2 per cent surge in new work as almost all the new work sectors, except private industrial, widened. In the corresponding period, the repair and maintenance work accounted for a 4.9 per cent growth.
April 2021 has seen the first sequential drop in the construction output since December 2020. As per the official figures released by the ONS, the absolute construction output slipped to £13,961 million. In December last year, the output slid by 2.2 per cent as against the November reading.
