The business sentiment index for builders rose for the first time in five months.
The Korea Research Institute for Construction Policy (CERIK) said on the 2nd that the Construction Business Survey Index (CBSI) for September rose 5.1 points from August to 73.3. In the CBSI, when the index falls below the baseline of 100, it means more corporations view the construction economy pessimistically; when it is above 100, the opposite is true.
The index fell for four straight months from 74.8 in April to 68.2 in Aug., but turned upward for the first time in five months and recovered to the 70 level. Lee Ji-hye, a research fellow at CERIK, said, "September's perceived construction economy recovered to the 70 level, but with it stagnating around 70, the slump continues."
By institutional sector, the detailed index for new orders rose the most month over month, up 7.7 points to 71.3. It was followed by the backlog of orders index (74.3, up 6.6 points), the financing index (74.3, up 2.8 points), and the materials supply index (91.2, up 2.7 points).
By project type, the new orders index for dwellings (73.6) and nonresidential building (72.2) rose 9.1 points and 7.6 points, respectively, while civil engineering (66.8) fell 1.9 points.
By corporation size, the large-corporation index (91.7) fell 0.6 points, while the mid-cap corporations index (71.4) and the small and medium-sized corporations index (57.0) rose 12.1 points and 3.8 points, respectively. By region, the Seoul index (88.2) and the non-capital region index (63.2) rose 8.9 points and 8.1 points, respectively.
The outlook index for this month came in at 76.9, up 3.6 points from last month.