Key Statistics: 04 August 2015

Construction

• HBF and Glenigan’s latest Housing Pipeline report shows that planning permissions for 52,167 homes were granted in England during the first quarter of this year, a 19% increase on the 43,926 permissions in the corresponding quarter last year. As a result the Moving Annual Total has passed the 200,000 mark for the first time since early 2008.
• NHBC report that more than 41,000 new homes were registered in the UK during 2015 Q2, up 12% on the same period last year.
• NHBC also recorded 2,337 registrations for units specifically designed for the elderly in the first six months of 2015, outstripping 1,919 which were registered for the whole of 2014.

Economy

• UK Manufacturing picked up slightly during July, according to the Markit/CIPS PMI survey, but growth remained sluggish. The index read 51.7 in July, above the 50.0 no change mark bit below an average of 54.3 seen over the last two and a half years.
• UK economic growth accelerated during the second quarter of 2015 according to preliminary data from ONS. GDP is estimated to have increased by 0.7% in the quarter compared to growth of 0.4% in quarter 1. Growth was driven by a 1.0% rise in the production industries and a 0.7% increase in services. Construction output is estimated to have stabilised during the quarter, having slipped 0.2% during the first three months of 2015, and was 2.2% up on a year ago.