Economic Week In Review | Issue 515 | 9 February 2026

UK construction and property

• Construction pipeline | Deloitte’s latest regional crane survey shows that the construction sector has built a “resilient pipeline” despite higher costs and regulatory pressures in 2025, and developer sentiment has shifted from “cautious optimism” to “committed construction.” Construction starts have increased across Belfast, Birmingham, Leeds, and Manchester compared to the previous year, but it has not led to a hike in the volume of units or floorspace under construction due to smaller average scheme sizes.
• Construction PMI rose to 46.4 in January, the highest level since June 2025. Business confidence also increased to its strongest level since May 2025. Businesses cited lower borrowing costs, improved infrastructure investment, and hopes for a housing-market recovery as factors likely to support construction workloads. The commercial sector was the strongest-performing sector during the month, with companies highlighting post-Budget clarity and improved investor sentiment as factors helping to slow the decline. Housebuilding remained one of the weakest sectors, though its contraction eased to the slowest pace in three months.
• Profit warnings |A third of UK-listed construction companies issued profit warnings last year, with project delays, cancellations, rising costs, and geopolitical uncertainty among the main reasons, according to EY-Parthenon’s latest study. The 36 firms in the FTSE Construction and Materials sector issued 18 profit warnings between them last year, more than three times the number recorded in 2024 and the highest annual total since the height of the Covid pandemic in 2020.
• Administrations |The construction sector experienced a second consecutive monthly decline in administrations in January 2026, with 16 company collapses, down from 20 in December. However, this figure was still higher than the 10 failures recorded in January 2025, indicating ongoing financial strain.

Global economy

• Eurozone | S&P Global’s composite PMI fell slightly to 51.3 in January, down from 51.5 in December, marking a four-month low. The moderation in overall growth came from the services sector, where activity expanded at its weakest pace since September, offsetting a fresh expansion in manufacturing output. Despite the slowdown, business optimism strengthened to its highest level since May 2024.
• Japan | The Nikkei reached a record high, and the Yen strengthened after the snap election saw Japan’s prime minister win an absolute majority. The move makes it easier for a measures such as a 21tn yen stimulus package and the suspension of an 8% sales tax on food to pass through.
• US job openings fell to a five-year low and in November after official data was revised. Concerns have increased over a softening labour market.

UK economy

• Interest rates |The Bank of England voted to hold interest rates at 3.75%, with policymakers remaining cautious as inflation slowly comes down. The Bank has also lowered its outlook for economic growth for 2026, from 1.2% to 0.9%, and for 2027, from 1.6% to 1.5%.
• Manufacturing | The UK’s manufacturing sector strengthened in January, supported by demand from the US and China which helped to lift export orders for the first time in four years. The UK’s manufacturing PMI rose to 51.8 in January, the highest level since August 2024.
• Services sector | S&P Global’s services PMI revealed that companies were lowering headcounts, turning to “automation” instead.

Materials and commodities

• Critical minerals | US President Donald Trump has announced Project Vault, a $12 bn strategic stockpile of critical minerals aimed at reducing US dependence on China and strengthening domestic supply chains. The project combines $10bn in loans from the US Export-Import Bank with $1.67 bn in private capital, with the aim of shielding sectors heavily dependent on these minerals.
• Bricks | UK brick deliveries fell by 6.4% in 2025, reversing the gains made in 2024. Annual deliveries of ready-mixed concrete hit a record low during the year, while concrete block deliveries also fell by 17.3% compared with a year earlier.

• Steel | Tata Steel has threatened to mothball its UK mills over concerns that the UK is becoming a “dumping ground” for cheap imports, with imports from Turkey, Pakistan, and South Korea that can be traced back to China being of most concern. The company warned that it is losing £5mn a week despite cutting operating costs by almost £500mn.

Environment

• EPC |The British Property Federation warned that 81% of commercial buildings across major English cities fall below an EPC rating of B, putting them at risk of becoming unlettable if future MEES move forward as previously proposed. The latest research shows that progress is being made, but it is slow and hampered by the lack of a response to the 2021 consultation on future MEES and the lack of policy clarity.
• Carbon removal | The EU has introduced the world’s first voluntary carbon certification standard for permanent carbon removals, creating a unified framework to verify long-term CO2 removals and storage. The standard falls under the EU’s Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming (CRCF) certification frameworks.
• Clean energy | China’s clean-energy sectors – led by solar, EVs, batteries, wind, transmission, and storage – accounted for more than one-third of China’s total GDP growth in 2025 and more than 90% of the increase in national investment, according to analysis by Carbon Brief. Without clean-energy sectors, China’s GDP growth would have been 3.5% in 2025 instead of the targeted 5.0%.