星空传媒

Construction orders across the sectors are growing generally. The latest numbers from the DTI show that orders in the fourth quarter of 2005 rose by 12% compared to the same quarter a year earlier.

The final quarter of last year also looked positive when compared to the preceding quarter, with orders up 7%.

The strength of the quarter was rooted in increases in orders for public housing, private industrial and private commercial work, the DTI said. This offset decreases during the three months in private housing, infrastructure and public non-housing.

Milan Khatri, RICS' chief economist, said taking a broader look at the market, the signs were even better: "Whatever slowdown there was, the market is picking up quite firmly now."

Looking across the whole of 2005, the DTI found that some of the areas that were weak in the final quarter of 2005 looked much better.

Private housing was up slightly, with orders rising by 5% in 2005 overall, compared to 2004. Khatri said that although private housing has dipped by 12% in the fourth quarter of 2005 compared to the same quarter in 2004, "the key thing is that private housing orders have not fallen over the year."

Similarly, while infrastructure orders fell 8% in the final quarter of 2005 compared to the same quarter in 2004, for the whole of 2005 orders were up 35%. Khatri said that data on infrastructure projects was inherently "lumpy" because orders were large and less frequent.

Public non-housing (excluding infrastructure) was one area that the DTI's figures did reveal to be weak in both the short and long term. Orders in the fourth quarter of 2005 fell by 19% compared to the same quarter a year earlier. For 2005 orders were down 9% against 2004.

Khatri said that one of the most positive signs emerging from the DTI figures was a growth in orders from the private business sector. This was backed up by a new report from property agent Savills, which points to a "marked upturn in commercial development activity in January".

Of the nine areas of commercial development Savills looked at, it found eight had expanded their activity last month (see graph above). Private sector office builds was the strongest area.