UK construction companies experienced a sharp rebound in business activity during May, helped by the fastest upturn in residential work since the end of 2015. The latest survey also revealed a sustained recovery in new work, following the soft patch seen during the first quarter of 2017. Increased workloads encouraged greater staff recruitment and a marked expansion of input buying across the construction sector. Meanwhile, prices for imported materials continued to push up input costs during May. However, the overall rate of input price inflation eased further from the peak seen at the start of the year.

The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers' Index posted 56.0 in May, up sharply from 53.1 in April, to signal the strongest expansion of overall business activity for 17 months. While the headline index signalled robust growth momentum during May, the latest reading was still much weaker than the post-crisis peak seen in January 2014 (64.6).