Key Statistics: 12th February 2013

 Construction

• The ONS reported last week that construction output for the final quarter of last year was up by 0.9% compared to the third quarter of the year, a healthy upward revision from the 0.3% increase that was originally estimated. Output however was down over the year, 9.3% compared to the fourth quarter of 2011.
• The increase in output over the quarter was driven by the private residential and infrastructure sectors, up 5.9% and 4.2% respectively over the period.
• These gains were partially offset by falls in public sector work (excluding social housing work) of 4.9% and RM&I work in the private residential sector, down 4.8%.
• House prices as measured by the Halifax house price index showed a 1.3% increase in the three months to January 2013 compared to the same period a year ago, marking the first annual rise in the index for 27 months.

 UK Economy

• Official statistics also estimated that output from the production industries fell by 1.7% in December compared to December 2011. Manufacturing output was down 1.5% over the same period.
• Output of oil and gas extraction, which has been in terminal decline for the past few years, fell by 12% compared to December 2011; the fall in North Sea oil production is cited as one of the reasons why GDP was so low in 2012.
• Trade data showed little improvement in the UK’s international position; we still imported more than we exported in December last year, an £8.9bn deficit in goods was offset partially by a £5.7bn surplus in services, leaving an overall deficit of £3.2bn and slight improvement on Novembers deficit of £3.6bn.
• Retail sales as measured by the British Retail Consortium were up 1.9% on a like-for-like basis in January compared to January 2012, the highest like-for-like sales growth for 13 months.