Construction new orders jump 16.2% in 2025 as private housing falls
ONS figures show construction new orders in Great Britain rose 16.2% to £83,335 million in 2025, while private new housing was the only sector to decline.
Construction new orders in Great Britain grew 16.2% in 2025 to £83,335 million, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on October 23.
That compares with growth of 5.6% to £71,707 million in 2024, the previous year’s ONS figures said.
Orders were driven mainly by public and private infrastructure, private industrial, other public non-housing and private commercial work.
Private new housing was the only sector where new orders decreased in 2025.
The value of construction new work in current prices, meaning not adjusted for inflation, rose 1.9% in 2025 to £139,106 million.
Public sector new work increased 1.7%, or £636 million, while private sector new work rose 1.9%, or £1,915 million.
There were 376,518 construction firms registered for VAT and PAYE in Great Britain in the third quarter of 2025, July to September, up 1.6% on 2024.
A year earlier the count was 370,770, an increase of 1.7% on 2023.
Construction employees, excluding the self-employed, rose 1.9% to 1.5 million in the third quarter of 2025 compared with the same period of 2024.
England was the main contributor, with employee numbers up 2.8% after no growth in 2024.
Wales recorded a rise of 0.5%, while Scotland fell 5.9%.
Scotland had been the only nation to add employees in 2024, with growth of 7.9%, the earlier ONS figures said.
The ONS all-work Construction Output Price Index showed annual price growth of 2.2% in December 2025.
The same measure showed growth of 3.4% in the 12 months to December 2024.
The index is compiled from input costs for materials, labour and plant, with a mark-up for profit, and is treated as a proxy for output prices.
More recent monthly data point to a weaker picture. The ONS construction output bulletin estimated that total output fell 1.0% in the three months to August 2026.
That was the second consecutive fall in the three-monthly series.
New work fell 1.4% over the period and repair and maintenance fell 0.3%.
Five of the nine sectors declined, and private new housing made the biggest negative contribution, falling 3.2%.
The annual figures are in current prices and, unless stated otherwise, not seasonally adjusted. They are subject to revision under the ONS revisions policies.
Firm and employee numbers are point-in-time estimates for the third quarter, taken from the ONS business register, which draws on HM Revenue and Customs VAT and PAYE records.
The ONS pointed to the Insolvency Service’s Company Insolvency Statistics for figures on construction company insolvencies.
In its 2024 figures the ONS noted that several major construction firms entered administration that year, causing job losses and unpaid invoices.
