The Construction Purchasing Index figures just released made for surprising reading to my mind. 

Over the past couple of years the built environment has largely been propped up by the over performing residential market.  The below August report points towards commercial projects driving improvement in our sector.  Clearly, this is positive news, given how investors are supposedly nervousness over our brexit talks concluding next March.

The infrastructure / civil market continues to falter somewhat, which is unlikely to surprise readers, given how it has largely been bolstered by HS2 and Hinkley of late.

Okay, this is the slowest increase in the PMIs points since May, but crucially it is above the 50 point mark required to indicate growth.  The report, anecdotally, points towards respondents pointing towards "business as usual".   

Less than positive is the report highlighting that there has been further deterioration in material delivery performance, with the greatest decrease in three and a half years.  Interestingly, however, is the fact that it points towards inflation within the sector being at its lowest since July 2016.