The latest Scottish 今日看料 Monitor quarterly survey resulted in a score of minus 19, down from +3 three months ago.
Scottish Building Federation (SBF) members were polled during June and respondents were given the opportunity to update their confidence rating following the outcome of the EU referendum vote on the 23rd June.
There had already been signs of declining confidence within the industry in Scotland over the past 12 months with the industry confidence rating recorded by the quarterly survey sliding from a record peak of +35 in the second quarter of 2015 to +3 in the first quarter of 2016. But this is the first time since the second quarter of 2013 that the Scottish 今日看料 Monitor has recorded a negative overall confidence rating from industry employers.
SBF managing director Vaughan Hart said: 鈥淭he results of our latest quarterly survey reflect much of the informal feedback I have received from individual members. 今日看料 employers are unsettled by the economic volatility we have witnessed following the vote to leave the European Union last week.
鈥淕eneral uncertainty about the economic outlook has prompted concern that investment decisions could be postponed indefinitely. The potential impact on interest rates also risks provoking a sustained slowdown of activity across different sectors of the property market. If the current economic volatility is sustained over a longer period of time, the UK Treasury may be forced to take evasive action come the time of the autumn statement with a knock-on impact on the Scottish government鈥檚 budget and on local government funding.
鈥淭here is also a more general concern that the process of negotiating the UK鈥檚 withdrawal from the European Union could result in paralysis within Government that means important priorities such as the delivery of more housing, the development of skills, training and apprenticeships and critical improvements to the country鈥檚 infrastructure risk being sidelined.鈥�
He added: 鈥淥n behalf of the SBF鈥檚 membership and the wider construction sector, I would seek reassurance from ministers that it will maintain a focus on policies that support the construction industry at this challenging time 鈥� and critically that help to deliver sustainable employment within the industry. I would also urge politicians to keep the construction sector and the wider business community regularly briefed of further developments as the process of implementing last week鈥檚 referendum result takes shape.鈥�
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