UK GDP Grew 0.7 Per Cent in Three Months to May 2026, with Construction Up 1.6 Per Cent

ONS figures show broad-based growth across services, production and construction in the latest rolling three-month period, with potential knock-on effects for Kent’s economy.

The UK economy grew by 0.7 per cent in the three months to May 2026, the Office for National Statistics announced, with construction posting the strongest gain at 1.6 per cent. Services rose 0.7 per cent over the same period, while production edged up 0.1 per cent — building on the 0.8 per cent growth recorded in the three months to April 2026 (revised up from an initial estimate of 0.7 per cent).

The ONS also posted a revised growth figure of 0.8 per cent for the three months to April 2026, though that revision is not yet reflected in the published April 2026 GDP bulletin, which currently shows 0.7 per cent. These are rolling three-month figures, designed to smooth out month-to-month swings — worth bearing in mind given that monthly GDP actually contracted by 0.1 per cent in April 2026 itself, after growth of 0.3 per cent in March.

Construction’s 1.6 per cent three-month rise is the headline number here. The sector had suffered five consecutive three-monthly falls between October 2025 and February 2026, so the figures show a sustained recovery now running into a second consecutive period of solid growth.

For Kent, the picture is broadly encouraging, though specific county-level data won’t be available for some time — regional gross value added figures typically lag monthly GDP releases by months. Kent’s economy leans heavily on services, covering retail, tourism, logistics and health, so national services growth of 0.7 per cent is likely to be supportive for local employers and workers. And with significant construction activity across the county — housing developments, road and rail infrastructure, commercial builds — a 1.6 per cent national rise in that sector points to a favourable environment for Kent’s building trades and developers. Production growth of just 0.1 per cent is more muted, though it does represent a shift from the contraction seen in the prior period, which matters for businesses around the Medway industrial areas and Thames Estuary ports.

The broader context: UK real GDP grew 0.6 per cent in Quarter 1 2026, the fastest quarterly expansion in roughly a year, following revised growth of 0.2 per cent in Quarter 4 2025. Annual growth stood at 1.4 per cent in 2025 and 1.0 per cent in 2024. Independent forecasters had pencilled in around 0.8 per cent annual growth for 2026 — the current three-month figures suggest short-term momentum is running ahead of those expectations, though whether that holds through the rest of the year nobody knows yet.