2021 may not have been the easiest year, but 2022 is already looking optimistic, as it has been reported that construction growth hit a six month high during January – and these new figures offer hope for stronger growth ahead.
This is believed to coincide with the concerns about the Omicron COVID strain beginning to subside, and the easing of restrictions, that there has been greater spending on commercial construction projects, making it the best performing category.
The IHS/Markit construction purchasing managers index (PMI) came in at 56.3 in January, up from 54.3 in December, which marked a three month low. This is the strongest output expansion since July 2021.
New orders rose at the fastest pace since August 2021, and input buying was the strongest for six months too. It was also reported that the peak phase of supply chain difficulties have appeared to pass, as the best delivery times since September 2020 were seen.
We believe that the 8% increase in public sector gross investment in the upcoming 2022/23 fiscal year will continue this construction growth.
Although there are still concerns about what will affect the future, including staff shortages, lack of haulage availability and increasing energy prices, we are very optimistic having seen these positive trends and hope to see this impact the work we are doing here at TRIQS!