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Production in Building and Construction Index Q4 2022 (Provisional) Q3 2022 (Final)

Building and Construction output down 3.1% in Quarter 4 2022

Online ISSN: 2009-5228
CSO statistical publication, , 11am

Key Findings

  • The volume of production in construction fell by 3.1% in Quarter 4 2022 compared with Quarter 3 2022 on a seasonally adjusted basis.

  • On an annual basis there was an 11.0% decrease in volume of production recorded.

  • The Residential Building sector increased by 1.8% in the seasonally adjusted volume index between Quarter 3 2022 and Quarter 4 2022.

  • Between Quarter 3 2022 and Quarter 4 2022, the Non-Residential Building sector showed a reduction of 6.7% in volume on a seasonally adjusted basis.

  • The Civil Engineering sector fell by 1.9% in the seasonally adjusted volume index between Quarter 3 2022 and Quarter 4 2022.

  • The seasonally adjusted value index for All Building and Construction decreased by 3.6% on a quarterly basis and by 2.2% on an annual basis.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (01 March 2023) released the Production in Building and Construction Index Quarter 4 2022 (Provisional) Quarter 3 (Final).

Commenting on the release, Shane O’Sullivan, Statistician in the Business Statistics Division, said: “The volume of production in construction fell by 3.1% in Quarter 4 (Q4) 2022 when compared with Q3 2022 on a seasonally adjusted basis. On an annual basis, between Q4 2021 and Q4 2022, there was a decrease in production volume of 11.0%.

With regards to pre-pandemic levels, there was a reduction of 16.8% in construction activity from Q4 2019 to Q4 2022. During the same period the value of construction decreased by 0.5%.

The Non-Residential sector recorded a quarterly contraction of 6.7% in the seasonally adjusted volume index when compared with Q3 2022 while the Civil Engineering sector decreased by 1.9%. In contrast the Residential sector recorded an increase of 1.8% over the same period.

Comparing Q3 2022 with Q4 2022, there was also a 3.6% decrease in the seasonally adjusted value index for construction. On an annual basis the value index decreased by 2.2%.”

Graphs and Tables

The headline table shows the seasonally adjusted volume and value indices for production in building and construction for Q4 2021, Q3 2022, and Q4 2022. It should be noted that the deflator (i.e., the Capital Goods price index) used in the calculation of the Production in Building and Construction Index has increased in recent months. See background notes and the Wholesale Price Index release for more details. Further information on seasonal adjustment is available in the CSO's video on Seasonal Adjustment.

Seasonally Adjusted Production in Building and Construction Index
 (Base Year 2015=100)
 Volume Index Value Index
Q4 2021140.6 165.6
Q3 2022129.1 168.0
Q4 2022125.1 162.0
Quarterly % change-3.1 -3.6
Annual % change-11.0 -2.2

Figure 1 shows the seasonally adjusted volume indices for All Building & Construction, Residential Building, Non-Residential Building, and Civil Engineering sectors from Q4 2017 to the current quarter. The Non-Residential and Civil Engineering sectors showed decreases in seasonally adjusted volume in Q4 2022 in contrast to the Residential sector which recorded an increase in seasonally adjusted volume.

Figure 1: Seasonally Adjusted Volume of Production in Building and Construction Indices, Q4 2017-Q4 2022

Figure 2 shows the seasonally adjusted volume indices for Q4 2019, Q4 2020, Q4 2021, and Q4 2022. Activity in the Building sector, which excludes Civil Engineering, remains below pre-pandemic levels with production volume decreasing by 19.9% between Q4 2019 and Q4 2022. Activity in the Civil Engineering sector has returned to pre-pandemic levels with production volume in Q4 2022 equal to Q4 2019. In contrast, production volume in the Residential sector declined by 36.5% between Q4 2019 and Q4 2022. Over the same period activity in the Non-Residential sector decreased by 18.5%.

Figure 2: Seasonally Adjusted Volume of Production by Quarter and Type of Activity
1(a) Seasonally Adjusted Indices of Production in all Building and Construction

1(b) Seasonally Adjusted Indices of Production in Building (Excluding Civil Engineering)

1(c) Seasonally Adjusted Indices of Production in Civil Engineering

2(a) Seasonally Adjusted Indices of Production in Residential Building

2(b) Seasonally Adjusted Indices of Production in Non-Residential Building