FX.co ★ UK Q3 Construction Orders Fall at Steeper Pace

UK construction orders fell 25.3% year-on-year in Q3 2026, a sharper decline than the revised 18.5% drop recorded in the previous quarter and the third consecutive quarterly contraction. It was the steepest annual fall since Q4 2023, largely driven by a deeper downturn in orders for other work (-27.5% vs -19.0% in Q2), especially in private commercial projects (-47.8% vs -28.9%).

Private industrial orders also decreased (-22.0%), though this represented a milder contraction than in Q2 (-60.4%). By contrast, orders for other infrastructure edged up 0.4%, reversing a 22.0% decline, and other new work excluding infrastructure rebounded strongly (44.5% vs -46.1%).

New housing orders fell 16.6%, swinging from an 8.9% increase in Q2, as both private housing (-22.6% vs 14.5%) and public housing (-13.5% vs -18.1%) weakened.

On a quarterly basis, total construction orders rose 1.2%, rebounding from an 11.9% drop in Q2 and marking the first quarterly increase in a year.