Solid start for construction aids recovery

Source: Daily Mail, LondonJan.存倉 04--British builders have started 2014 'with the wind in their sales' as the recovery in construction broadens beyond housing, figures showed yesterday.The Markit/CIPS purchasing managers' index of activity in the sector, where 50 is the cut-off between growth and decline, was 62.1 in December ? only slightly weaker than the 62.6 recorded in November and the second-best month since mid-2007.The industry created 'at least' 30,000 jobs in the final three months of 2013 as firms took on staff to meet growing demand.The report ? a day after British manufacturers clocked up an impressive PMI score of 57.3 ? suggested the construction sector grew by around 3pc between October and December.Housebuilding led the way, but commercial projects such as offices, warehouses and shopping centres also increased at the fastest rate since August 2007. Civil engineering was 'robust' amid higher spending on infrastructure.David Noble, chi儲存f executive of CIPS, hailed 'an outstanding end to 2013 for UK construction'.Tim Moore, senior economist at Markit, said: 'Construction companies enter 2014 with the wind in their sales. The construction recovery has started to broaden out from housing demand and infrastructure projects to include strong growth in commercial building work.'Separate figures from building society Nationwide showed house prices are now 8.4pc higher than a year ago. This comes amid a surge in mortgage lending, with the Bank of England reporting that 70,758 mortgages were approved for house purchases in November, the most since January 2008.But businesses remained starved of cash with lending falling by pounds sterling 4.7bn in November ? the biggest slide since the Bank of England records began in spring 2011.Copyright: ___ (c)2014 Daily Mail (London, ) Visit the Daily Mail (London, ) at .dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉