Further growth in house building

House building in September grew at its fastest pace since Ulster Bank first began its Construction Index 14 years ago.

The index reached 61.5 in September which is up marginally from the 61.4 recorded in August — the 13th straight month of growth.

House building was the best performing component of the index. It surged from 63.7 in August to 68.4 in September. However, civil engineering activity continues to struggle and dropped from 48.2 to 45.1 over the same timeframe.