Construction output dropped 0.9 percent in June from May, when it decreased 2 percent.
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Compared to June 2015, construction output was down 2.2%, which was a touch steeper than the 2.1% drop forecast by economists and worse than the 1.6% decline the month before.
Builders saw output fall by 0.7 per cent in the second quarter, which was worse than an earlier 0.4 per cent estimate by the Office…
The ONS said that as this data covers the second quarter of 2016 plus the month of June, “there is very little anecdotal evidence at present to suggest that the referendum has had an impact on output”.
Samuel Tombs, chief United Kingdom economist of Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the official data showed that the sector re-entered recession as public sector cuts and Brexit uncertainty took their toll.
Mr Tombs said protracted Brexit negotiations will hamper the construction industry going forward, causing businesses to hold off from committing capital expenditure.
Outside of the United Kingdom, investor confidence in European shares also showed improvement, though sentiment is still modestly negative.
Following the release of the data, sterling eased back towards a near one month low against the dollar, before recovering to trade flat but staying below the $1.30 level at $1.2959.
“We think that uncertainty intensified rapidly after the Brexit vote so I think the outlook for construction sector is not looking too rosy for upcoming quarters”.
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Eurostat said GDP in the 19-country currency bloc was up 0.3 per cent in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter, and rose 1.6 per cent year-on-year. This was the smallest drop in four months.
