Urgent action from the Government is needed to boost house building rates across Britain, warns Federation of Master Builders (FMB) in response to newly released S&P Global / CIPS UK Construction PMI data for October which shows house building has fallen for eleven consecutive months.
Commenting on the figures, Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB said; “The UK construction industry is undergoing an immensely challenging period. Overall business activity is down for a second successive month, and today’s construction data report cites fragile client confidence as a key reason for weaker sales. The Government must do more to provide reassurance to our industry in terms of support for house building and improving the existing housing stock to make it greener and more energy efficient if we are to start to see signs of recovery.”
Brian Berry continued: “We are now coming up to almost a year of continuous decline in house building rates which is not acceptable. Worryingly, we have only seen limited action from the Government to stimulate growth in the sector. We need a clear plan from the Government on what the UK will be doing to provide certainty for local house builders so that they are able to provide the vast increase in high-quality housing that people in our country so desperately need.”
