"Easing" construction decline noted by Rics

New hopeful signs that the economic downturn might have troughed have been highlighted by surveyors.

The latest construction market survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) showed a continuing weakening in overall workloads - but also showed that the rate of this decline was alleviating.

According to the poll, 45 per cent more surveyors reported a fall in construction activity, rather than a rise, over January-March 2009.

This is a slight improvement on the previous balance, which stood at -47.

A similar story was provided by the private housing sector - with the balance of Rics members seeing a fall rather than a rise coming in from -66 per cent to -49 per cent over the quarter.

Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at the group, said: ’Activity is still declining across the construction sector, but it appears to be doing so at a lesser rate than was previously the case.’

He added: ’Despite some sub-sectors showing slightly more positive signs, construction output is likely to post a double digit drop over the course of 2009 with a further loss of employment and skills in the industry.’ ADNFCR-2318-ID-19188336-ADNFCR