Workloads decrease marginally in Q4 but outlook remains positive: RICS

The Q4 RICS India Construction Market Monitor shows workloads decreasing slightly at the headline level. The infrastructure sector recorded the strongest growth for the second consecutive quarter with a balance of 20% of respondents seeing workloads rise. Activity levels in both the public and private housing sectors declined in Q4 with public housing workloads contracting more than any other sector. The private commercial and energy, oil and gas sectors saw only very modest growth over the quarter while a balance of 13% of respondents reported that private industrial workloads decreased. 

Despite the softer activity levels in Q4, respondents remain firmly confident that their workloads will rebound with a balance of 88% expecting activity levels to rise over the year to come. On average respondents expect to see growth in workloads of around 7% over the year to come, slightly lower than the 8% growth that was expected last quarter. The outlook for employment levels and profit margins in the sector also remains positive with balances of 63% and 94% of surveyors expecting to see increases.

Planning and regulatory constraints remain one of the biggest impediments to further growth in the sector with an unchanged 88% of respondents citing this as a key issue. The proportion of respondents reporting insufficient demand and financial constraints as limitations to growth rose in Q4 with around 90% of surveyors now also highlighting these as concerns.
Competition from rivals and labour shortages also remain significant impediments for many firms with around half of respondents reporting these as problematic. The skills shortages appear to be quite broad based across the trades with between 30% and 40% of respondents noticing a scarcity of labour resources in each. However, quantity surveyors appear to be in particularly short supply with 76% of replies to the survey reporting a dearth of skills in this field during Q4.Capture 4 In total, 44% of respondents reported using Building Information Modelling (BIM) in Q4. Finally, a net balance of 47% expect their clients sustainability budgets in grow over the year to come.

In total, 44% of respondents reported using Building Information Modelling (BIM) in Q4. Finally, a net balance of 47% expect their clients sustainability budgets in grow over the year to come.