The cost-of-living prices increasing, and other rising costs have been dominating news stories recently, but how did this affect the construction industry?
According to Purchasing Managers’ Index, the costs cut into the sector’s growth in April, and the continuation of said rising prices have “started to act as a brake on demand”.
While business activity grew, despite these heightened costs, it was reported to be at the slowest rate since January 2022.
What areas of construction saw the best business activity?
IHS Markit and the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) compiled the index recently and measured construction business activity across three sectors – civil, commercial, and residential.
Each sector has a score. If the figure is below 50, activity is developing. If it is below, activity is decreasing. The figure overall for the three sectors was 58.2 in April, down from 59.1 in March.
Commercial took first place with a figure of 60.5, down from 60.8 in March. This sector benefitted from increased demand and coronavirus recovery-related spending.
The High Speed Two (HS2) project helped the civil engineering sector reach the second place with 56.2, down from 56.3 in March.
Residential took last place with 53.8, down from 54.9 in March.
Regardless of the results, the index reveals that the whole sector was feeling uncertain due to the rising costs and the value of total new orders growing at its slowest rate in four months.
How can Palmers Solicitors help your construction business?
We can help prevent disputes from arising through the professional drafting of contracts and other agreements. However, we also appreciate that projects do not always run as planned, which is when we can advise on resolving problems through negotiation and mediation.
Should this not be effective, we can then act on your behalf or act in your defence.
Find out how we can help you today by contacting us.