{"id":164283,"date":"2026-07-31T09:30:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T08:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=164283"},"modified":"2026-07-31T12:07:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T11:07:24","slug":"construction-sector-confidence-rises-to-56-in-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/construction-sector-confidence-rises-to-56-in-july\/164283\/","title":{"rendered":"Construction sector confidence rises to 56% in July"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>According to the latest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lloydsbankinggroup.com\/media\/press-releases\/2026\/lloyds\/business-confidence-reached-four-month-high-during-july.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Business Barometer from Lloyds<\/a>, construction sector confidence rose by 10 points to 56% in July<\/h2>\n<h3>Key takeaways<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Construction sector confidence rose 10 points to 56% in July, above the 12-month average of 47%.<\/li>\n<li>Stronger customer demand was the top driver of increased confidence, cited by 54% of construction firms surveyed.<\/li>\n<li>Improving interest rates and financial conditions were also a major factor, mentioned by 38% of firms.<\/li>\n<li>68% of construction firms expect business activity to increase over the next 12 months.<\/li>\n<li>65% plan to increase staff levels over the next year, up from 55% in June.<\/li>\n<li>UK business confidence rose to 49% in July, with wider economic optimism increasing to 42%.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These latest construction sector confidence figures track above the 12-month average of 47%. This was driven by stronger customer demand, improving financial conditions and industry-specific improvements.<\/p>\n<p>Max Jones, director and head of construction at Lloyds, explained: \u201cThe latest rise in confidence suggests construction firms are becoming more willing to plan beyond the next project.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter a period of uncertainty, it\u2019s encouraging to see that firms are beginning to invest in people and the capacity they&#8217;ll need to support future demand, signalling a sector that&#8217;s looking ahead rather than reacting to today&#8217;s market conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Stronger customer demand is the main reason for increased construction sector confidence<\/h3>\n<p>More than half of the construction firms surveyed (54%) said that stronger customer demand was their main reason for increased confidence in the economy.<\/p>\n<p>This was followed by improving interest rates and financial conditions, cited by 38% of firms.<\/p>\n<p>More than two-thirds (68%) of construction firms expect their business activity to increase in the coming year, up slightly from 67% in June.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, just under two-thirds (65%) are planning to increase their staff levels over the same period, up from 55% in June.<\/p>\n<h3>End of the Middle East conflict has increased optimism across the country<\/h3>\n<p>Overall,\u00a0UK business confidence\u00a0rose five\u00a0points in\u00a0July\u00a0to 49%, hitting a four-month high.<\/p>\n<p>This was driven by an increase in economic optimism, reflecting the decline in global energy prices, the Bank of England holding interest\u00a0rates\u00a0and the announcement of an interim peace agreement in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/construction-sme-confidence-taken-hit-q2-say-hbf\/163253\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Middle East<\/a> at the time of the survey.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_164284\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-164284\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-164284\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/LBG-UK-Barometer-Heatmap-July-2026-300x222.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"518\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/LBG-UK-Barometer-Heatmap-July-2026-300x222.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/LBG-UK-Barometer-Heatmap-July-2026-1024x756.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/LBG-UK-Barometer-Heatmap-July-2026-768x567.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/LBG-UK-Barometer-Heatmap-July-2026-569x420.jpg 569w, https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/LBG-UK-Barometer-Heatmap-July-2026-80x60.jpg 80w, https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/LBG-UK-Barometer-Heatmap-July-2026-485x360.jpg 485w, https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/LBG-UK-Barometer-Heatmap-July-2026-696x514.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/LBG-UK-Barometer-Heatmap-July-2026-1068x789.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/LBG-UK-Barometer-Heatmap-July-2026-610x450.jpg 610w, https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/LBG-UK-Barometer-Heatmap-July-2026.jpg 1411w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-164284\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image: \u00a9 Lloyds Banking Group<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Optimism in the wider economy rose 11 points to 42%, compared to a 12-month average of 37%. Of those surveyed, 59% said they were optimistic (up four points from June) in the wider economy, while those who felt pessimistic decreased by seven points to 17%.<\/p>\n<p>The main factors cited by firms who felt more positive this month were stronger customer demand, improving interest rates or financial conditions and better economic news.<\/p>\n<p>Businesses\u2019 own trading outlook remained unchanged at 56% in July, compared to a 12-month average of 57%.<\/p>\n<p>65% of firms (up one point from June) expect stronger output over the year ahead, while those expecting weaker activity increased one point to 9%. Among firms expecting stronger activity, the main factors were stronger customer demand, increased investment in capacity or tech and improved supply chain conditions.<\/p>\n<h3>The road ahead<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s encouraging to see business confidence reach its highest level in four months, driven by a significant improvement in economic optimism. While challenges remain, these results suggest many businesses are feeling more optimistic about the opportunities ahead,\u201d said Amanda Murphy, CEO for Lloyds Business and Commercial Banking.<\/p>\n<p>She concluded: \u201cBusinesses have remained remarkably resilient in recent months, with many focusing on investing in their future, improving productivity and making sure they\u2019re well placed to respond as market conditions change.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe stronger confidence we&#8217;re seeing among smaller businesses and firms focused on the domestic market is particularly encouraging, suggesting more businesses are starting to see opportunities for growth and investment.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"mk-custom-module-container\">\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to the latest Business Barometer from Lloyds, construction sector confidence rose by 10 points to 56% in July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":164285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[304],"tags":[908,173189,173310],"stakeholder_rel_tag":[],"contributor_rel_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-164283","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-planning-construction-news","8":"tag-economy","9":"tag-productivity","10":"tag-projects"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.9 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Construction sector confidence rises to 56% in July<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"According to the latest Business Barometer from Lloyds, construction sector confidence rose by 10 points to 56% in July\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/construction-sector-confidence-rises-to-56-in-july\/164283\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Construction sector confidence rises to 56% in July\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"According to the latest Business Barometer from Lloyds, construction sector confidence rose by 10 points to 56% in July\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/construction-sector-confidence-rises-to-56-in-july\/164283\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Planning, Building &amp; 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