New orders for construction in the United Kingdom declined 10.5 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2018, following an upwardly revised 31.4 percent slump in the previous period. All other work fell at a softer 12.1 percent (vs -37.1 percent in Q3), aided by gains in private industrial (29.6 percent vs -10.1 percent) and the pubic segment (5.6 percent vs 10.9 percent) while orders continued to decrease in private commercial (-2.5 percent vs -0.3 percent). Also, orders declined less for infrastructure (-37.9 percent vs -69.9 percent) and all new housing (-6.8 percent vs -14.1 percent). Compared with the previous period, new orders for construction decreased 1.9 percent, after a downwardly revised 3.1 percent decline in the third quarter of the year. In 2018, construction orders fell 15.8 percent compared to a 4.1 percent rise in 2017. Construction Orders in the United Kingdom averaged -0.46 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 -4.60 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 -2.40 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.