Construction sector outlook in Q4 crumbles

Lower demands are wrecking its business sentiments.

While the overall business optimism for Q4 saw a slight uptick, the construction sector continues to draw a downtrend, with only one of the six indicators passing a positive outlook.

According to Singapore Commercial Credit Bureau's latest quarterly Business Optimism Index (BOI), the decline in private building projects has caused sector's outlook to crash.

To recall, Singapore's Building and Construction Authority projected total construction demand to be between $27 billion to $32 billion this year.

Based on the index, sector's outlook on volume of sales fall significantly, experiencing a contraction of from 20% in the previous quarter to 0%.

Outlook for net profit sank into the red, from a flatline 0% to -20%.

"Both net profits and selling price deteriorated into the contractionary zone from 0 percentage point in Q3 2016 to -20.0 percentage points in Q4 2016," the report said.

Meanwhile, both orders and employment levels have also moderated downwards, both registering a 0% outlook in Q4.