Total development output is estimated to have grown by 0.3% within the three months to August 2025, the newest figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal.
The knowledge exhibits that over the three-month interval, new work fell by 0.4%, and restore and upkeep grew by 1.3%.
At the sector stage, 5 out of the 9 sectors grew within the three months to August 2025.
The fundamental contributor to the rise was non-public housing restore and upkeep, which grew by 5.6%.
Monthly development output is estimated to have fallen by 0.3% in August 2025, after displaying no development in July 2025.
The lower in month-to-month output in August 2025 got here solely from a lower in restore and upkeep (1.5%), as new work elevated on the month (0.5%).
Hampshire Trust Bank managing director of improvement finance Neil Leitch says: “These figures are a welcome shock given the broader challenges going through the sector. Just final month, official knowledge confirmed planning approvals at document lows, whereas the Home Builders Federation reported that approvals for small websites have halved.”
“This stage of constraint is totally unsustainable, holding again the supply of latest houses and threatening the Government’s pledge to ship one million this Parliament.”
“Even as soon as planning approval is secured, many tasks fail to progress, stalled by rising prices, funding uncertainty, and the lengthy wait between consent and supply.”
“SME builders are central to native housing provide, but they’re those hit hardest by this lack of consistency. The funding is there to help well-structured schemes, however with out certainty that approvals will translate into begins, capital and functionality each sit idle.”
“The new Housing Secretary is true to need us to ‘construct, child, construct’, however that ambition should be matched with motion. The upcoming Budget is a chance to put money into planning departments, strengthen native supply capability, and entice new expertise into development. Until these fundamentals are in place, the shortfall in new houses will maintain widening, and the regional gaps in supply will solely develop.”
McBains managing director Clive Docwra provides: “Today’s figures replicate the subdued financial image within the business at current, with output falling by 0.3% following no development in July, and underperforming in opposition to the general financial system which grew by 0.1% in August.”
“The incontrovertible fact that new work fell by 0.4% over the three months to August displays the cautiousness by traders to decide to spending on tasks whereas financial uncertainties persist. A glimmer of hope is that new work orders elevated in August by 0.5%.”
“However, many builders will probably be placing any plans on maintain till after the Chancellor delivers her Budget subsequent month, whereas the business will probably be searching for the speech to offer additional incentives to get Britain constructing.”
“Abolishing stamp obligation and reforming council tax – the latter which remains to be primarily based on values from the early Nineteen Nineties – would decrease the barrier for transferring and supply an injection of confidence within the housebuilding market, which stays sluggish.”
