Pulled the full three year run of construction insolvency data this month, from the 2,213 firms that failed the year before this whole saga started, through the record above 3,400 at the peak, and the numbers finally, cautiously, look like they're easing in the most recent figures.
If that holds, it's a meaningfully positive signal for anyone planning a new build over the next couple of years. Fewer failures mid-project means fewer of the delays and cost blowouts that have defined this entire period, and it suggests the industry's finally worked through the bulk of the 2021 to 2022 contracts that caused most of the damage in the first place.
Cautious optimism, with the caveat that I've called false bottoms on this trend before over the last three years. Watching another two quarters before I'd call it a genuine turn.