Construction output grew by 0.4 per cent in February, reversing a downward trend over the previous two months, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
This followed a downwardly revised decrease of 0.3 per cent in January and a 0.2 per cent drop in December, with poor weather being blamed for slowing work.
Five out of the nine sectors grew in February 2025, the ONS said.
“The main contributors to the monthly increase were public other new work, and public housing repair and maintenance, which grew by 4.4 per cent and 4.0 per cent, respectively,” it added.
Overall new work (0.3 per cent) and repair and maintenance (0.5 per cent) also grew.
The ONS said the mixed effects of the weather – with rain and cold temperatures at the start of the month followed by more settled conditions later in February – contributed to the rise.
Experts said that the figures showed the government’s recent announcements on planning and housebuilding had given developers the confidence to push forward with projects.
“The construction sector began to slowly recover from the winter blues in February, with areas such as new work and repair and maintenance making a small but crucial contribution to the month’s output figures,” Terry Woodley, managing director of development finance at Shawbrook, said.
“This was likely due to the government’s continuous efforts over the past several months to streamline the planning process and increase housebuilding numbers, which provided property developers with the confidence to push forward with projects.”
Assessing the February figures as a whole, Woodley said they showed how “resilient” the sector was.
“Our recent research has a similarly positive outlook, with 61 per cent of property developers predicting that the residential property market will improve this year, indicating that the second half of the year could prove to be a fruitful season for housebuilding,” he added.
However, the government’s statistics agency also estimated that construction output showed zero growth in the three months to February, with a 1.2 per cent increase in new work cancelled out by a 1.5 per cent drop in repair and maintenance.
Clive Docwra, managing director of property and construction consultancy McBains, said: “The industry will breathe a sigh of relief at today’s figures. However, growth remains sluggish both over the short and medium term and some sectors remain low in terms of new contracts.
“There will be some concerns that private commercial new work and private housing new work fell by 0.5 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively.
“The big worry at present is that investors’ confidence has been rocked by President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the resulting trade war, which has dented their investment portfolios. Although there’s no panic, it means many are taking a wait-and-see approach, so riding out the storm will inevitability have an impact on a number of projects being given the green light.”
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Nicola Harley