Agents' Summary of Business Conditions - June 2008

• Consumption growth eased further.
• Weakness in housing demand and transactions intensified and new housing starts contracted sharply.
• Investment intentions fell in the service sector. Tighter credit conditions affected a growing number of companies, especially in the residential and commercial property sectors.
• Demand for exports was firm and was expected to remain so over the next six months (see the box on the Agents’ survey of export conditions).
• Growth in domestically orientated manufacturing eased slightly, and there was more pronounced weakness in construction and services.
• Employment intentions remained depressed, having fallen sharply last month. The net inflow of migrant labour slowed and recruitment difficulties eased further.
• Capacity pressures eased a little.
• Growth in total labour costs remained well contained.
• Annual input price inflation remained at very high levels and annual output price inflation increased as manufacturers sought to maintain margins.
• Annual consumer price inflation increased, largely reflecting higher prices of fuel, energy and food.

Agents' summary of business conditions - June 2008

• Agents' scores (xlsx)
• Definitions for the Agents’ scores
• Response to consultation on changes to Agents' scores