Housebuilding in the UK has pushed up the country’s construction sector to growth of 1.3% in 2013.
The construction sector delivers some 6% of the British economy.
Its new growth took it to £112.6bn for the year. This was practically all “solely contained” in the housing sector, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The sector plummeted after the banking crisis of 2008. Even with its recent approach to health, it is still 12.2% below its peak performance before the crisis and is still weaker than manufacturing or the services sector.
The double digit growth was hailed as a sign of Britain’s gathering economic recovery and observers are hoping for another strong year in 2014, depending in some part on an improvement in the weather.
“It is particularly encouraging to see that construction of new housing last year was higher than in any of the past 6 years," said a Treasury spokesman.
