It is evident that overall sentiment in the construction industry continues to be positive, from the data shown in the Q1 2013 RICS Hong Kong Construction Market Survey. Total workloads kept on rising in most parts of the industry, with the headline net balance moving from +39 to +37 in Q1.

     The private commercial workloads net balance rose from +50 to +56, in terms of the sector breakdown. Respondents in the private industrial works category reported that workloads were stabilised, with the net balance strengthening from -20 to 0. On the other hand, public housing and public non-housing workloads continued to surge. Infrastructure workloads seemed to be an important factor again in pushing up the overall construction industry output.

     Looking into the next 12 months, respondents are relatively more optimistic about the output and profit margins. The net balance for the former bounced up from +75 to +82 and for the latter, it rose from +52 to +64. Nonetheless, the net balance for employment expectations, decreased from +54 to +36. The average anticipated increase in construction output over the next 12 months is predicted by respondents to decline within the range of 5 to 7.5%.

     Apparently, skilled labour shortages grew in the construction sector as more robust activity is seen in the industry. Respondents mentioned that skills shortages (91%) remained to be the main problem limiting building output in Q1. The highest net balance received turned out to be for other construction professionals (100%), when asked where the shortages were most pronounced.

     Approximately 45% of respondents revealed that they used Building Information Modeling (BIM) in Q1. Of those that use it, 50% of respondents do so in the area of design, 25% in the area of cost management, and about 13% in the area of time management.