Construction firm confidence hits highest level this century
The latest edition of the monthly construction purchasing managers’ index (PMI) from Ulster Bank — one of the main health barometers for the sector — posted an overall score of 63.5 points for April, up from a reading of 60.2 points in March.
As well as showing a 10th consecutive month of new order growth, one of the sharpest rises in employment levels on record, and the eighth straight month of general activity growth, April illustrated the strongest level of business sentiment among respondent companies since the survey began in June 2000.
The rise in building activity, noted in April, was also the sharpest monthly rate of expansion seen since December 2004.
Commenting on the latest survey, Simon Barry, Ulster Bank’s chief economist in the Republic, said the results point to a further strengthening of the recovery in Irish construction.
“The strengthening was particularly evident in housing and commercial activity, where the pace of growth also quickened to multi-year highs,” said Mr Bary. “Offering further encouragement was a further substantial increase in new orders, which rose for the 10th consecutive month in April, and at the fastest pace since February 2006.
“More generally, taken together with the robust recent readings of the services and manufacturing equivalents, the much-improved trends in the construction PMI provide clear evidence of the broad-based improvement that is now taking hold across both export-orientated and domestic-facing sectors of the Irish economy.”
According to the latest PMI, published this morning, growth was evident last month in two of the three sub-sectors, with housing activity going from 59.9 points to 63.4 points and commercial activity rising from 61.3 to 63.6 points.
Only civil engineering activity measured a marginal decline, from 44.1 points in March to 41.8 last month.
