Key Statistics: 29th May 2012

Construction

• Latest ONS GDP figures show that construction activity fell by 4.8% over the first quarter of 2012, a faster decline than the 3% previously estimated. 

UK Economy

• The ONS revised their figure for UK GDP down, meaning output now declined by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2012 rather than 0.2%.
• There was a 3.6% increase in business investment over the first three months of this year, compared to the final quarter of 2011. This growth was driven by the private non-manufacturing sector.
• The ONS’s seasonally adjusted Index of Services increased by 0.8% in March 2012 compared with March 2011.
• Retail sales values in April increased by 0.4% compared with April 2011, the slowest rate of growth since January 2010. Sales volumes by 1.1% over the same period. This is the largest fall in sales volume year-on-year growth since August 2011.
• CPI annual inflation stands at 3.0% in April 2012, down from 3.5% in March.
• 65,000 homes were sold in April - a sharp drop from 88,000 in March, according to HM Revenue and Customs. This was 4,000 less than April 2011.