Residential Construction is one of the cornerstone industries of the UK economy. It accounts for around 40% of total construction output, which overall contributes 7% of the country’s GDP. Not far off one in 10 workers in the UK are employed in construction and associated sectors.
Beyond such significant output and employment figures, the structural importance of the housing market to the wider economy elevates the importance of residential construction further still. The balance between housing supply and demand, property valuations,mortgage rates, consumer confidence and inflation is a delicate one.
Disruptions in construction can have knock-on effects across the economy. And, as we’ve seen in recent years, disruption in the wider economy can hit the residential property industry particularly hard, contingent as it is on such a vast range of influencing factors, from market volatility to investor and consumer sentiment, government policy to geopolitical events.
In this guide, our aim is to take the financial pulse of the UK residential construction sector, as it seeks to put the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic behind it and continues to battle challenges including high input costs, skills shortages, supply chain uncertainty, and dwindling demand.