As housing applications stabilise, there are chinks of light emerging for construction recruiters.

Data from market intelligence provider Glenigan found that planning applications by housebuilders for new developments have stabilised in recent months, albeit at a low level, with an estimated 459 planning applications for new private housing schemes submitted during July. The average number of planning applications plunged from 1,291 in 2007 to 902 in 2008, to 494 for January to July 2009.

Andrew Conder, managing director at ACS resourcing, told Recruiter: “We are finding the market is picking up. The biggest problem is that because money has not been put into the housing market, money is not moving and that has resulted in the current economy. Hopefully we will start coming out of the recession.

“The fact that Glenigan is saying it is stabilising means that things are picking up. At the beginning of the year, if you walked on to a site, there would be a foreman with his feet up doing nothing. There are some sites that have only started in the past couple of weeks. Things are looking positive.”

John Arundel, managing director, J A Recruitment, is more cautious: “It is still very much the same level as it has been in the past six to eight months. On the temporary side there is more work. I think firms are looking to take people on a contract basis. There is movement out there but I don’t think it is significant enough. We are nowhere near the levels of getting back to normal. I think it will be next year before we see that.”