Procurement for Housing Scotland Q3 2025 Sentiment Report

What’s the market telling us right now?

Every six months, we go straight to the source. We survey dozens of manufacturers, merchants and contractors across the construction supply chain and ask them to tell us honestly; what’s working, what’s worrying them, and where they think prices are heading.

The result is our Supply Chain Sentiment Report. It’s designed to give PfH Scotland members a genuine read on market conditions before those conditions catch you off guard.

What’s in the Q3 2025 report:

• For the first time in three years, overall supplier confidence has broken back into the 9s – hitting 9.31. We look at what’s behind that shift and whether it’s likely to hold.
• Price forecasts for 2026 are more aligned than they’ve been in years. Most manufacturers and merchants are predicting rises around 2.5%, while contractors are clustering between 4% and 6%. We explain what that consensus actually signals.
• Contractor concerns about skills and labour are climbing sharply,up from 6.35 to 7.06, even as vacancy numbers fall. We unpack why those two things aren’t as contradictory as they look. Supplier relationships with public sector customers have quietly improved to 8.6. We explore what’s driving that and how to make the most of it before demand picks up again.
• With the ONS having paused publication of its Construction Materials Price Index, we dig into alternative data sources to give you the clearest possible picture of where materials costs actually stand.
• Practical advice throughout on how to challenge supplier price rises, protect your pipeline and think ahead on workforce capacity.

Get your copy

Download the Q3 2025 report and go into your next procurement conversation with a clearer picture of what the market is doing and why.