Construction sector workloads in Northern Ireland continued to fall through the second quarter of 2026 according to the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Construction Monitor as the sector continues to navigate challenging conditions.
Overall, a net balance of -23% of NI respondents reported a fall in construction workloads in Q2, falling from the net balance of -15% that was seen in the Q1 report. This is the lowest this balance has been since Q3 2023, and the lowest balance seen across the UK regions.
Looking at the subsectors in NI, all of them saw a decline in activity through Q2, aside from private commercial activity which fell flat. Looking at housebuilding, both private and public sector activity fell further into negative territory, with public housing reporting a net balance of -25%, down from -7% in Q1, and private housing seeing a net balance of -33%, falling from the -13% seen in the survey previous.
On the other subsectors, a net balance of -22% saw a downturn in other public works, a net balance of -36% noted a fall in private industrial activity and a net balance of -13% reported a fall in infrastructure activity.
Although, amid the challenges, there is slight optimism about the outlook. Respondents in NI, on balance, expect that workloads will rise over the next 12-months, though marginally so, with a net balance of 8% of surveyors anticipating that workloads will increase.
With a challenging economic backdrop, respondents in NI expect that profit margins will be flat over the next 12-months, although this is an improvement from the net balance of -44% that was seen in the survey previous.
Surveyors in NI do continue to report shortages in skilled workers. 42% of survey respondents report a need for more construction professionals, 51% cited a shortage in bricklayers and 62% noted a shortage in quantity surveyors, both of which are similar to the figures seen in the Q1 report.
Carolyn Laverty, RICS NI construction spokesperson said: “Challenging conditions for NI’s construction sector continued and indeed in some respects intensified in Q2. Anecdotally, some of the biggest challenges that we’re experiencing are coming from a lack of public investment, which we can see evident when it comes to the downturns in these areas of workloads, planning delays and also skills shortages, adding to more macro issues such as material price inflation. But whilst there is much uncertainty, it’s encouraging to see that there is some optimism that the challenges might ease and workloads might increase a little over the next year.”
Commenting on the UK picture, Simon Rubinsohn, RICS Chief Economist said: “The latest results continue to demonstrate the ongoing challenges facing much of the construction industry. Rising material costs are exacerbating existing financial hurdles and being reflected in further pressure on profit margins. Infrastructure continues to show a degree of resilience with workloads benefiting from a number of substantive projects. However, there is little evidence of any improvement in sentiment in the housebuilding sector highlighting the predicament the new prime minister faces in trying to reignite building activity and oversee a sharp uplift in the delivery of social housing. Aside from the headwinds provided by viability, respondents are continuing to point to regulatory barriers impeding the development timeline with problems around the building safety regulator still being frequently cited despite some improvements in the process.“