British construction PMI stays high in March

British construction purchasing managers' index (PMI) slightly dropped to 62.5 in March from 62.6 in February, London-based survey compiler Markit said Wednesday. Although the latest data was well below the 64.6 figure in January, it is far above the 50 mark that denotes growth. Housing activity regained its place as the best performing category of construction last month, driven by improving underlying demand across the sub-sector, Markit said in a press release. The rate of civil engineering output growth decelerated significantly in March, while commercial construction activity continued to increase sharply amid improving economic fundamentals, according to Markit. "Expectations for construction growth over the year ahead have now reached their highest since the start of 2007, and a strong pipeline of new work is fueling job creation across the sector," Tim Moore, senior economist at Markit said. As the eighth consecutive month that the index has been above 60.0, the strength of residential construction reflects the influence of the "Help to Buy" scheme, said Kevin Davidson, property economist at Capital Economics, a London-based economic research company. In mid-March, British government announced that "Help to Buy", a housing market stimulus scheme, would be extended for another four years to 2020, in order to boost the houses construction in the country.