Dodge Data & Analytics, New York, has reported construction starts increased 2% in July. Total construction starts in July were down 6% compared with July 2018.
“The strengthening volume of construction starts in recent months indicates that activity is moving closer to the levels reported in 2018, following a sluggish performance at the outset of 2019,” says Robert A. Murray, chief economist for Dodge Data & Analytics. “Recent support has come from those construction sectors that are partially influenced by public funding, namely institutional building with its June gain and now public works with its July gain. This is typically what takes place during the latter stages of a construction expansion, which also helps to keep the initial stage of a broad-based slowdown to stay moderate.
“The current year has already seen a pullback for multifamily housing after a robust 2018, and single-family housing has not yet provided evidence that it can move beyond its extended plateau any time soon,” Murray continues. “The commercial building segment so far in 2019 has been mixed—office construction remains on track for a modest gain, but there’s also been generally depressed activity for store construction and some slippage for hotel and warehouse starts.”
Nonresidential building construction decreased 4% in July. In the commercial category, manufacturing plant construction surged 58%; store construction advanced 24%; hotel construction increased 12%; office construction grew 1%; and warehouse construction fell 13%. In the institutional category, religious buildings soared 95%; amusement-related construction climbed 44%; educational building construction dropped 3%; health care facility construction declined 10%; public buildings fell 59%; and transportation terminal construction plunged 64%.
Residential building construction fell 6% in July. Single-family housing fell 2%, and multifamily construction dropped 16%.
Nonbuilding construction increased 24% in July.
During the first seven months of 2019, nonresidential building was down 9% compared with the same time period in 2018. Residential building decreased 9%, and nonbuilding construction rose 2%. By geographic region, the Midwest declined 4%; South Central slipped 5%; South Atlantic fell 6%; Northeast dropped 8%; and West decreased 9%.
