The estimated total volume of construction output in the fourth quarter of 2012 grew by 0.9% compared with the third quarter of 2012.

The rise in the total volume of construction output halts the decline that started in the third quarter of 2011.

The private housing and infrastructure sectors provided the greatest contribution to the increase in the fourth quarter, growing by 5.9% and 4.2% respectively, but are partially offset by decreases in new public non-housing work and private housing repair and maintenance, which fell by 4.9% and 4.8% respectively.

The estimated volume of all new work grew by 1.6% and repair and maintenance fell by 0.3% compared with the third quarter of 2012.

The non-seasonally adjusted output for the fourth quarter showed a different pattern to previous years (although the survey has been running for only three years). Although December has shown large falls compared with November for all three years, in 2012 the fall was bigger. In addition, output has fallen between September and October in the two previous years but rose by 8.8% last year. Output has risen between October and November in the previous two years but fell by 3.1% last year.