IDENTIFY THE MAIN FACTORS WHICH DETERMINE THE DEMAND FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF BUILT FACILITIES AND OUTLINE HOW THESE FACTORS HAVE OPERATED ON THIS DEMAND IN THE LAST TWO YEARS.
The determination of demand of goods and services produced the construction industry is a complicated process. This is partly due to the cost, size, longevity and investment nature of the and partly due to the broad range of what constitutes construction activity. It is difficult to envisage just one housing market (Danny Myer, 2004).Factors affecting built facilities construction demand can be categorised as general and local factors. General factors are political, economic, social, and technological and legal/legislative based. Local factors include a combination of building types, procurement types and geographical location (Akintoye et al, 1994).
The consensus in the construction industry is that the interest rates and general business confidence have the greatest bearing on the private sector workloads (Beard Dove, 1991). Hillebrandt (1985), however, has extended this to the following list of general leading indicators of construction demand;
1. Population
2. Interest rate
3. Shocks to the economy
4. The demand for goods
5. Surplus manufacturing capacity
6. The ability to remodel
7. Government policy (monetary, fiscal, e.g. tax policies)
8. Expectation of continued increased demand (for manufacturing goods)
9. Expectation of increased profits (on the activities of those that demand construction)
10. New technology
These factors have been investigated as the potential leading indicators of the USA construction demand (Akintoye, 1994).
For the UK, the general factors of construction demand are grouped into the following: economic conditions, construction price, real interest rate, unemployment level, and profitability (Akintoye, 1994)
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
Construction of new built facilities is considered to be a major investment which adds value to the Gross
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