Construction growth leaps to August 2007 high
Survey data is getting too hot to handle.
The construction purchasing managers' index (PMI) has jumped from 62.1 to 64.6 in January, according to data compiled by Markit.
So we're back to pre-crisis construction growth. Bad news for those worried that we're seeing overheating as the latest expansion in the housing sector is the steepest since November 2003.
The surveyors found that output growth at the start of 2014 "reflected rising levels of activity across all three broad areas of construction".
Analysts had expected a small drop to 61.5. Any number above 50 implies expansion, and the rate of expansion implied by recent PMIs has been staggering.
Jeremy Cook, chief economist at the currency exchange company, World First, says thgat while sterling move higher following the release, it "remains lower on the week following yesterday’s disappointing manufacturing number."
