Latest ONS construction statistics show a 9% drop in output during April compared with 2011 and an 11% fall on the previous month.
The ONS added that construction output taken over the wider three-month period between February and April also fell 6.7% on the previous year.
Falls of around 22% were recorded in public housing and other public building projects.
Mike Leonard, director of the Modern Masonry Alliance, said: “Statistics continue to prove a massive decline in public housing. This is impacting directly on UK growth and is causing rising unemployment.
“The solution is becoming increasingly obvious, the Government must invest in public rented housing.”
Construction Products Association Economics Director Noble Francis said the downward trend could last another 18 months.
He said: “The government has made much play of private sector construction leading the recovery as the public sector cuts bite but it is clear that this is not the case.
“Overall, construction output fell in every sector during April.
“With further public sector cuts in the pipeline and little to suggest that a resolution to the euro zone crisis is imminent, it is clear that the trend in output during the next 12-18 months will be downward.”
Simon Rubinsohn, RICS chief economist, said: “After a very weak start to the year, we had hoped that the recovery seen in the March figures could be the beginning of a more upbeat trend.
“New work, repair and maintenance and infrastructure all saw a drop in output in April and there is little sign that government policy on housing is having any impact on residential development.
“There has been little change in private housing output from the first quarter average or the same period last year and worryingly, it now looks likely that construction output will fall over the course of this year by rather more than the 3% we previously envisaged.”
