Key Statistics: 30 June 2015

Construction

• Whilst Glenigan has tracked a recent slowing in new sites being opened-up for development, the NHBC reports that unit starts remain firm, suggesting that housebuilders are pressing ahead with building out existing sites. The NHBC report that new home registrations for 2015 remain at a higher level than last year with strong growth reported in May. The figures also show encouraging signs of a revival in the public and affordable housing sector which saw an 8% increase in registrations in May. For the rolling quarter (March-May), registrations increased by 15% compared to the same period last year (43,987 in 2015; 38,247 in 2014), mirroring the strong growth already reported by NHBC this year.
  • The private sector starts increased by 17% during this period (33,046 units in 2015; 28,216 in 2014).
  • The public and affordable sector was also up by 9% (10,941 units in 2015; 10,031 in 2014).
• Mortgage approvals in Britain rose in May to their highest level since March last year, according to data from the British Bankers' Association on Wednesday. Approvals for house purchase rose to 42,530 from 42,020 in April, up 4% compared with a year ago.

Economy

• Retail sales volumes slowed somewhat in the 12 months to June from their strong rally in May, according to the CBI’s latest monthly Distributive Trades Survey. The slowdown in headline sales growth from last month was mostly driven by the grocers sector, where volumes were flat in the year to June following May’s strong showing. Most other retail sub-sectors reported growth in sales volumes. Internet sales volumes rose again in the year to June. However, the rate of growth eased off slightly on the previous month.
• A fall in export demand slowed the recovery in the UK’s manufacturing sector in June, although output growth and total orders are still above their long-run averages, according to the CBI’s latest Industrial Trends Survey.
  • A quarter of firms said their export order books were below normal, 9% said they were above, giving a rounded balance of -17%. That is the lowest since March when it was -26%.
  • 26% said total order books were below normal, 19% said they were above, giving a balance of -7% which is, by a narrow margin, the lowest since July 2013 when the balance was -12%.
  • A balance of 7% of manufacturers expect average prices for domestic orders to fall over the next three months.
• Public sector net borrowing (excluding public sector banks - PSNB ex) was £89.2 billion in the last financial year, 2014/15, according to official statistics. This is a decrease of £9.3 billion compared with the previous financial year and was the equivalent of 4.9% of Gross Domestic Product. During the first two months of 2015/16 net borrowing total £16.4 billion, a 23% decline against the £21.4 billion borrowed during the same period last year.