Construction orders in Britain fell in the last three months of 2003 by 8 per cent compared to the same quarter a year earlier, according to figures from the Department of Trade and Industry.
That means that orders in 2003 as a whole were 4 per cent lower than 2002, the DTI added.
It explained that much of this downturn has been due to an exceptionally high figure for the public sector in December 2002.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, orders were down 5 per cent, despite increases in all private housing and private industrial sectors.
The DTI said private housing orders in 2003 rose by 4 per cent compared with the previous year, with orders in the fourth quarter up 16 per cent compared with the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, public housing and housing association orders in 2003 rose by 13 per cent when compared with the previous year, despite an 11 per cent quarter-on-quarter decline.
Infrastructure orders in 2003 decreased 18 per cent from the previous year, with the fourth quarter 22 per cent down on the previous quarter.