All articles by Brian Green – Page 28
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Recovery soon for construction?
The torrent of economic good news gushing from economists and think tanks is almost overwhelming.Hell's teeth it is a boost to confidence. But does this mean that the recovery is in sight for construction?David Miles, the new member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee recently told the Western ...
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Home sellers push up asking prices
The latest figures from the property website Rightmove suggest that sellers are feeling a bit more confident and are pushing up their asking prices.Rightmove puts the 1.8% rise in asking prices in April on top of the 0.9% rise in March down to the normal spring bounce. But the chances ...
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HCA makes hay while the rain pours
On the face of it the achievement of the Homes and Communities Agency looks impressive - 50,000 affordable homes delivered "despite" the downturn and targets ticked off as met with the exception of one.Now, I am an advocate for the establishment of the HCA, but I am also an advocate ...
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Official figures put house prices 14.2% below peak
The latest official figures produced by Communities and Local Government to gauge house prices suggest the decline in prices accelerated in February to an annual rate of -12.3%, which puts them 14.2% down from peak.No particular surprise there. But there is a scrap of hope in the figures for those ...
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Is the housing market out of the woods?
More encouraging news for those involved in selling houses came from the surveyors' body RICS today with the release of its latest housing market survey.The survey adds further weight to the argument that the catastrophic collapse in house prices has been arrested, with the balance between surveyors reporting falls in ...
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Experian revises down its forecast for construction output
Industry forecasters at Experian followed their rivals and cut expectations of construction activity over the coming three years.The predicted decline in output in 2009 is now put at 7.8% followed by a slight drop of 1.7% in 2010 and a bounce back up of 1.6% in 2011.This puts the peak-to-trough ...
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House price futures on the rise
It has been a good spring so far for house builders in terms of sentiment if not in terms of actual sales. This is in sharp contrast to last year when market devastation created more ashen-faced residential developers than you could shake a stick at.There has been a bit of ...
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We're in the worst recession on record, says Construction Products Association
The spring round of forecasting has brought more gloom with the Construction Products Association taking an even dimmer view of industry prospects than in the winter.On the basis of the current data available the materials producers' body predicts a drop of almost £15 billion in construction work at current prices ...
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Annual construction output forecast to fall
The first of the spring forecasts for construction has winged its way into my inbox. It is the Hewes & Associates' forecast.Hewes expects on the basis of current data that levels of construction output will fall back to those last seen in 1996 before we see a recovery.This may seem ...
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Annual construction output forecast to fall £23.5 billion over next two years
The first of the spring forecasts for construction has winged its way into my inbox. It is the Hewes and Associates' forecast.Hewes expects on the basis of current data that levels of construction output will fall back to those last seen in 1996 before we see a recovery.This may seem ...
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Halifax figures dampen hopes of spring bounce in house prices
The Nationwide figures published yesterday provided some cheer for those selling homes with the announcement of a 0.9% rise in its house price index for March.That hope has been rather squashed with the Halifax today releasing figures suggesting the price of an average home fell in the month by 1.9%.What ...
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Five reasons why the G20 summit is great news for UK construction
I meant to get in an early night, but George Soros was billed to appear on Newsnight and while I know it's shallow I am a sucker for celebrity.I legitimised my decision on the grounds that I wanted to see how broad the consensus was over the success of the ...
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Another month another set of "worst ever" new orders figures
The February figures for new orders were worse than the January figures which were the worst monthly figures ever recorded.There is perhaps little to add to the comments made last month other than to say if you are looking for optimism, perhaps the social housing sector may offer a few ...
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Contractors optimistic despite being trapped in mire of recession - says CIPS
The buyers' body CIPS remained muted about the prospects for construction despite a slight lift in the construction industry.The main construction index published by CIPS rose to 30.9 for March up from a series low of 27.8 in February. That means that things were not getting as worse as quickly ...
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Nationwide springs pleasant surprise for house sellers and builders
The latest analysis by the Nationwide of house prices suggests that this spring has brought with it an unexpected 0.9% bounce in the price of houses. This will add some more cheer to those currently enjoying the blue skies, sunshine and abundant blossom.With so much to feel good about in ...
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Homeowners turn their backs on using their homes as a bank
I was intrigued by the response from the surveyors' body RICS to the latest Bank of England figures for Housing Equity Withdrawal.The figures show a continuation in the rapid repayment of housing debt, as the graph below shows, and this will have had a major impact on the recent decline ...
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Brown shoots are the new green shoots
At a meeting recently I was chastised for being rather too glum, so I have been casting around of late for more colourful topics in these black times for construction.Positives are rather hard to find, but I had an interesting conversation this morning with an industry contact who has been ...
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Sorry to be a party pooper, but hold fire on bigging up the mortgage figures
There has been much joy in the housing sector at the news that the number and amount of home loans approved by banks grew for the third consecutive month in February, according to the British Bankers' Association.While this is clearly not more bad news for housing and homes loans businesses ...
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Not a good time to be taking risks
What do the latest inflation figures tell us?Firstly, we are set for a heightening of the row between the quantitative easers and those leaning towards the views of the Austrian school on the matter of pumping money into a busted boom. Put simply what should we fear most: deflation or ...
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Are construction's vital job statistics wrong?
Following the release of numbers suggesting construction jobs increased by 47,000 over 2008 I asked for clarification from the statisticians. To my mind and in the view of anyone in the industry I have spoken to these figures were wildly wrong.I have now received my reply from the Office of ...