The future of UK housing is looking optimistic with £3.8billion of plans granted the go-ahead last month, clearly higher than the £3.5billion average throughout 2021, according to the latest figures from Barbour ABI.
The residential market as a whole continued its steady recovery, with £2.3bn of contracts awarded in February and £4.6billion of homes planning applications submitted in the month – almost half the figure for all sectors.
Tom Hall, Chief Economist at Barbour ABI, said: “The planning environment continued to go from strength to strength in February as sentiment moved in line with the improving Covid-19 situation. Contract awards continued on their record run over the last 6 months or so, with the most impacted sector of hospitality and leisure starting to show signs of life.
“While the outlook is not uniform across industry sectors or across the country, the results from February are encouraging and give us confidence that 2022 should be a good year for the construction industry as these projects in the planning pipeline turn into output. The demand for new buildings and facilities along with the willingness to invest in such projects is a very positive sign. However there remain several risks that may disrupt the commercially sensitive sectors recoveries: a record tax burden, high debt and rising inflation for consumers, further Brexit-related trade barriers coming into force, and recent events in Ukraine causing further product shortages and inflation as well as increasing geopolitical instability.”
Barbour ABI releases its Snap Analysis every month and is available free of charge to interested parties.
