New orders for construction in the United Kingdom tumbled 30.7 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2018, following an upwardly revised 7.7 percent decline in the previous period. It is the sharpest decrease in construction orders since the first quarter of 2009, as all other work orders fell sharply (-30.8 percent vs -7.7 percent in Q2), namely private industrial (-8.7 percent vs -16.4 percent) and private commercial (-0.6 percent vs -11.7 percent). Also, orders slumped for infrastructure (-68 percent vs -1.4 percent) and all new housing (-14.4 percent vs -1.6 percent), for both public (-57.1 percent vs 1.4 percent) and private (-8.3 percent vs -1.8 percent). Compared with the previous period, new orders for construction grew 3.4 percent, after an upwardly revised 7.3 percent decline in the second quarter of the year. Construction Orders in the United Kingdom averaged -0.40 percent from 1965 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 37.40 percent in the third quarter of 1987 and a record low of -43.90 percent in the first quarter of 1974.
Construction Orders in the United Kingdom is expected to be 1.50 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Construction Orders in the United Kingdom to stand at 3.60 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the United Kingdom Construction New Orders is projected to trend around 2.50 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.