RICS UK Construction Market Survey, Q2 2009
HONG KONG, Aug. 20 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Workloads continued to fall in all parts of the construction industry bar the public works sector in UK which has benefited from an injection of state spending. Construction workloads remained in negative territory for the fifth quarter with 26 percent more surveyors reporting a fall rather than a rise in overall workloads in the second quarter of 2009, up from a net balance of -45% in the first quarter of 2009. However, workloads in non-housing public sector construction reached their most positive level since the fourth quarter of 2007 as state spending started to take effect in the industry.
Private housing saw a significant improvement in the number of surveyors reporting falling workloads.
The outlook for the next twelve months is still depressed albeit less so than in the previous quarter. Optimism for workloads is creeping toward positive territory with the net balance standing at a mere -8 percent. Confidence is most negative in regard to profit margins with 48 percent more surveyors anticipating a further squeeze.
Commenting on situation in Hong Kong, Mr. Kenneth Kwan, spokesperson of RICS Hong Kong, said, "While the workloads in the construction industry have fallen and the unemployment rates of construction workers have risen since middle of last year, the situation in Hong Kong is less gloomy. With significant government spending on infrastructure and public works programmes in the pipeline, the overall construction workloads in Hong Kong are expected to rise in the coming months."
About RICS construction market survey: Published quarterly, the RICS Construction Market Survey provides a unique look at this GBP 80bn industry in the UK. It features trends in house building activity, labour availability, expected profit margins and publicly-funded building infrastructure projects.
About RICS & RICS Asia
RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) is the mark of property professionalism worldwide. It covers all aspects of property, construction and associated environmental issues. RICS has 140,000 members globally and represents, regulates and promotes the work of property professionals throughout 122 countries.
The RICS Asia supports a network of over 9,000 individual professionals across the Asia Pacific region with an objective to help develop the property and construction markets in these countries, by introducing professional standards, best practice and international experience. It promotes RICS and its members as the natural advisors on all property matters. It also ensures that services and career development opportunities are provided to members.
The RICS Asia region covers national associations and local groups locating in Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, The People's Republic of China and the SAR Hong Kong. It also has members working across the region such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma/Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Kiribati, Laos PDR, Macao, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, The Maldives, The Philippines, Timor East and Vietnam. For more details, please visit http://www.ricsasia.org .
Media enquiry, please contact:
RICS Asia Public Relations Representative
Ms Belinda Chan / Ms May Cheung
Tel: +852-2372-0090
Fax: +852-2372-0490
Mobile: +852-9379-3045 / +852-9099-2218
Email: belinda@creativegp.com / may@creativegp.com
