Output in the UK's construction industry fell for a third straight quarter between October and December last year.

The latest Office of National Statistics (ONS) data reveals output declined by 0.7% in the three-months to December 2017, representing the most sustained fail in quarterly construction output since Q3 2012.

Despite falls in both the three-month on three-month and quarter-on-quarter time series, output grew in the month-on-month series, rising by 1.6% in December 2017.

The -0.7% figure has been revised up from the preliminary estimate of -1.0% published last month. However despite three consecutive quarterly declines, construction output in Great Britain grew by 5.1% in 2017 due to strong growth at the end of 2016 and Q1 2017.

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Rebecca Larkin, Senior Economist at the Construction Products Association, said: "Overall growth in construction activity slowed significantly over the course of 2017, with output falling since Q2 and rising only 0.9% in annual terms in Q4.

"The quarter saw continued growth in private housing driven by five years of the Help to Buy equity loan, and early work on major projects such as the Thames Tideway Tunnel driving a 0.7% rise in infrastructure. However, even with the government's £7.4 billion equity loan outlay so far and a further £10 billion set aside, house building activity could not offset the broad downturn in R&M, commercial and industrial.

"Underscoring the supportive effects of the government's Help to Buy policy, private housing output is now 28.8% higher than its pre-recession peak. By contrast, commercial output is 26.4% below its historic high, whilst industrial output is 28.5% lower.”

(LM)