Glenigan found that the value of residential construction starts under £100m fell by 20% during this three-month period from the preceding period.

The value of underlying work, across all sectors, was only down 10% during this time with non-residential construction project starts conversely up by 1%.

Private housing was the hardest hit with construction activity declining by 22% between the three-month periods and 36% lower than in 2025.

Glenigan sees this activity being negatively impacted by sales failing to reflect housing affordability improvements, which in turn is making developers reluctant to push ahead with new sites.

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Slow Building Safety Regulator approvals and wet ground conditions have also had a negative impact.

“Once again, poor residential activity has kept the flow of new projects to a meagre trickle, with exceptionally wet ground conditions during the three months to February delaying starts and contributing to the 31% drop against a year ago,” said Allan Wilen, economic director at Glenigan.

“It’s hoped that drier conditions in the spring will help kickstart activity.

“However, with a whole host of other adverse domestic and global socioeconomic challenges to surmount, we’ll need to see a significant reversal in current circumstances before we see a meaningful performance uptick.”