The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS) latest UK Construction Monitor report shows a net balance of -10% of surveyors reported a decrease in activity in the third quarter of the year.

The quarterly sentiment survey shows a steep drop on the -1% reported for the previous quarter and is the most downbeat result since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

The largest fall is in private housebuilding, where the net balance of surveyors reporting a decrease in activity increased from -12% to -26%. Public housing also fell into negative territory to -7%.