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Growth in Irish construction continues

12 Jan 15 The recent run of strong growth in Ireland’s construction sector is continuing.

December’s figures for the Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) showed that new orders also continued to expand sharply, albeit at a weaker pace, while companies took on extra staff at a rapid rate.

The PMI is a seasonally adjusted index designed to track changes in total construction activity. It remained well above the 50.0 ‘no-change’ mark in December, posting 63.1, down slightly from 63.5 in November but still signalling a further strong monthly increase in activity, albeit the slowest in three months. The average reading for 2014 as a whole was the highest since the series began in mid-2000.

Simon Barry, chief economist Republic of Ireland at Ulster Bank, said: “The results of December’s Ulster Bank Construction PMI survey confirm that activity trends in I rish construction remained robust as 2014 drew to a close. The headline PMI reading of 63.1 indicates that activity once again rose strongly last month, albeit at a slightly slower pace than in November. Respondents continue to report a broad-based recovery across the sector. While the indices for housing and commercial activity declined in December, they both remained at very elevated levels, and civil engineering activity increased at its fastest pace in eight years.

“Although the new orders index fell to a four-month low, it still remains at very punchy levels and continues to indicate solid expansion in new business activity. New orders have now increased for eighteen consecutive months and respondents expect this trend will likely continue, as sentiment remained very bullish in December with approximately two thirds of respondents forecasting higher activity in twelve months’ time. The sustained expansion in orders and activity, along with high levels of optimism in relation to future business activity, me ant firms continued to report increased staffing levels last month. In fact, the employment index remained above the no change 50 level for the sixteenth consecutive month in December.

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“Overall, 2014 marked an important year for the Irish construction sector , with the PMI results through the year pointing to the establishment of a solid, broadly -based recovery. While this recovery needs to be seen in the context of the huge downturn which hit the sector over 2006 -13, the encouraging trends in place at the en d of the year indicate that the sector will likely enjoy further expansion in 2015.”

The fastest rise of the three categories of construction was on commercial activity. Meanwhile, civil engineering activity increased for the third month running, and at the steepest pace since October 2006. Residential activity continued to rise sharply despite the pace of expansion slowing for the third month running.

Higher new work and the prospect of further improvements in 2015 led construction firms in Ireland to raise their staffing levels again in December. The sixteenth successive monthly increase in employment was sharp, and broadly in line with that seen in the previous month.

A substantial rise in sub-contractor usage was recorded in December, with the rate of expansion the strongest since February 2006. The quality of work carried out by sub-contractors deteriorated for the third month running, but their rates increased at a considerable pace that was the fastest in the survey’s history.  

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