British construction sector shrinks at fastest pace since June

Britain’s construction sector shrank last month at its fastest pace since June as housebuilding suffered its worst month ​of the year, a recent survey has shown. The ‌S&P Global UK Construction PMI fell to 43.6 from 46.1 in September, below every forecast in a Reuters poll of economists, whose ​median estimate had pointed to no change. Readings below ​50 denote contraction, which has been the case for ⁠the construction PMI for nearly two years. Civil engineering and ​commercial activity contracted, but the downturn was especially severe for ​the housing sector, which saw the biggest drop in activity since December 2025 Only the COVID-19 pandemic and the global financial crisis saw ​greater drops in housebuilding activity than last month and ​December 2025 “Construction companies commented on severe headwinds in the housebuilding sector from ‌rising ⁠borrowing costs, weak consumer confidence and elevated economic uncertainty,” said Tim Moore, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence “However, there were reports of strong demand for data centre projects, ​alongside rising workloads ​in the ⁠energy and utilities sectors,” he added The survey’s index of input costs rose to its ​highest level since June after jumping more than ​10 ⁠points on the month, with respondents citing fuel surcharges and energy costs Business optimism waned to its lowest level since May The ⁠all-sector ​PMI — a combination of the construction, ​manufacturing and services surveys — rose to 52.1 in October from 51.5, the strongest ​reading since February