Seasonally adjusted construction output in the fourth quarter of 2013 is estimated to have risen by 1.3% (£1.49billion) above the level of the fourth quarter of 2012. New work increased 2.4% (£1.62billion) while there was a slight decrease in repair & maintenance of 0.3% (£140million).

Output in Q4 was 0.2% ahead of the third quarter – new work up 0.7% but repair & maintenance down 0.5%.

The monthly output of construction in December is estimated to be 2% higher than in November, again with new work showing growth (3.4%) and repair & maintenance showing a fall (0.2%).

The estimated annual volume of construction output in 2013 of £112.6billion is 3.9% greater than the level recorded during the economic downturn of 2009. However, construction output remains 12.2% below its 2007 peak of £128.2billion.

Despite a slow beginning to 2013, with construction output falling 1% in Q1, output grew steadily throughout the year after that and produced three consecutive quarters of growth for the first time since Q3 2010.

When comparing the like-for-like components of the public and private sectors in 2013 there is a marked difference between the two sectors. Construction output of new housing, other new work and housing repair & maintenance show that public spending on construction has fallen year-on-year by 4% (£900million) while private spending has increased 3.4% (£1.85billion).

The 1.3% annual growth in construction output is almost solely contained within the new housing sector, which has increased 10.4% (£2.1billion) year-on-year. There is a small contribution from non-housing repair & maintenance of 0.7%. These increases were in contrast to the decrease in other new work of 0.9% (£450million) and housing repair & maintenance (down 1.3% or £570million).

The Preliminary Estimate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) published on 28 January contained a forecast for quarterly construction output of minus 0.3%. This estimate has been revised within this release based on updated survey responses and GDP is now estimated to have grown 0.2%. This upward revision has no effect on the preliminary estimate of GDP growth to one decimal place. Construction currently accounts for 6.3% of GDP.

The revision to the figure published in Q4 GDP is due to later returns across all types of work being stronger than those used in the preliminary estimate of GDP.