November 2025 represented a 19-month low in terms of construction output, reflecting the debilitating effects of the Budget uncertainty ahead.
Construction output fell by 1.1% in the three months to November, while private commercial work dropped by 4.5% over the same period.
Dr David Crosthwaite, chief economist at the Building Cost Information Service (BCIS), said: “Significant downturns in public and private housebuilding activity are a major concern.
“It continues to suggest that conditions are not conducive for development to progress and underscores the sustained impact of decision-making delays in the planning system.
“Process reforms to the Building Safety Regulator are bedding in but capacity constraints in the wider planning system will likely require a more immediate solution than longer-term changes to national regulation.
“Promisingly, the wider economy saw higher-than-expected growth in November.
“Interest rates and inflation are also softening which should hopefully prompt more positive sentiment among clients and investors.
“After months of disappointing results, these are the silver linings construction needs.”
There were fears the Budget would radically alter stamp duty charge a property tax on homes worth over £500,000, but the announcement on November 26 turned out to be less radical, only raising taxes on homes worth over £2 million.
Spencer McCarthy, chief executive of Churchill Living, said: “The collapse in construction rates lay bare the extent of the crisis which has now beset homebuilding in Britain.
“This decline is a consequence of the relentless headwinds facing housebuilders as we try to deliver the housing stock Britain so desperately needs. Government rhetoric is abundant, but action remains alarmingly absent.
“Housebuilding has always been one of the biggest levers government can pull to generate quick and sustained economic growth, but the inability to restore economic confidence, reform planning and reverse the hikes in costs it’s hard to see these figures changing.”