The Northern Ireland Quarterly Construction Output Statistics, released by NISRA, indicate that overall construction activity across all sectors remained high in the second quarter of 2026.

Although output declined in the first half of 2026, the sustained upward trend over the past three years and the peak reached in Quarter 4 2025 mean volumes are still historically elevated.

The total volume of construction output decreased by 1.7% between April and June 2026. This marks a second successive quarterly fall, following three consecutive quarters of growth.

Despite the recent dip, construction output stands 73.4% above the series low recorded in Quarter 2 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and 17.5% higher than the pre-pandemic level in Quarter 4 2019.

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Compared with Quarter 2 2025, overall output has risen by 3.5%. All three subsectors expanded over this period: Housing by 2.1%, Infrastructure by 6.3% and Other Work by 2.4%.

On an annual basis, New Work increased by 2.4%, while Repair and Maintenance rose by 5.1%.

These Accredited Official Statistics provide a timely measure of quarterly and annual changes in both the volume and value of construction activity within Northern Ireland. Comparisons over time are presented in constant prices (volume measures) and are seasonally adjusted, where appropriate, to better capture underlying trends.

The estimates are derived from the Quarterly Construction Enquiry, part of the Quarterly Business Survey, and exclude work undertaken by Northern Ireland construction firms outside Northern Ireland.

Further details are available in the Northern Ireland Quarterly Construction Bulletin for Quarter 2 2026 (datavis.nisra.gov.uk/economy-and-labour-market/construction-bulletin-northern-ireland-quarter-2-2026.html) and in the background information and data tables on construction output statistics (www.nisra.gov.uk/statistics/economic-output/construction-output-statistics).