New orders for construction in the United Kingdom rose 6.6 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019, following a downwardly revised 10.3 percent slump in the previous period. All other work jumped 26 percent (vs -11.7 percent in Q4), amid gains in private commercial (32.8 percent vs -2.3 percent) and the public segment (24.2 percent vs 6.8 percent) while orders slipped in private industrial (-7.8 percent vs 29.6 percent). Also, orders surged for infrastructure (39.2 percent vs -37.7 percent). In contrast, they fell sharply for all new housing (-24.3 percent vs -6.9 percent). Compared with the previous period, new orders for construction grew 9.6 percent, after a downwardly revised 0.4 percent drop in the fourth quarter of 2018. Construction Orders in the United Kingdom averaged -0.43 percent from 1965 until 2019, 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 4.50 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 -2.00 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the United Kingdom Construction New Orders is projected to trend around 2.00 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.