Dodge Data & Analytics, New York, has reported construction starts increased 21 percent in October. Total construction starts in October were up 1 percent compared with October 2017.
"During 2018, the presence of very large projects in a given month has played a considerable role in shaping the monthly pattern of activity, and in October it was nonresidential building that especially benefitted from the start of very large projects," says Robert A. Murray, chief economist for Dodge Data & Analytics. "These included a $2.4 billion petrochemical plant in Texas, the $1.4 billion Terminal One building at Newark Liberty International Airport, the $860 million expansion to the Las Vegas Convention Center, a $750 million Facebook data center in Utah, and a $655 million concourse expansion at Denver International Airport that's part of that facility's extensive upgrade. Earlier, decreasing construction starts for nonresidential building during this year's third quarter raised some concern, suggesting that this sector may have already peaked and is now in decline. The strong October performance indicates that nonresidential building construction starts continue to proceed at an elevated pace, at least for the present."
"The current year has also witnessed moderate growth for public works construction, helped by the greater federal funding for fiscal 2018 passed by Congress back in March as part of the omnibus appropriations legislation," Murray continues. "For fiscal 2019 which began on Oct. 1, the federal-aid highway program and EPA construction-related programs are operating under a continuing resolution through Dec. 7, waiting for Congress to finalize spending levels. As for residential building, multifamily housing has shown renewed expansion this year after settling back in 2017, yet a more cautious lending stance by banks towards multifamily development may dampen multifamily construction starts next year."
Nonresidential building construction increased 53 percent in October. In the commercial category, manufacturing plant construction soared 189 percent; office construction increased 123 percent; hotel construction jumped 59 percent; warehouse construction climbed 17 percent; and store construction dropped 16 percent. In the institutional category, public buildings rose 95 percent; transportation terminal construction surged 92 percent; amusement-related construction jumped 89 percent; health care facility climbed 60 percent; and educational building construction and churches each fell 18 percent.
Residential building construction rose 2 percent in October. Single-family housing decreased 4 percent, and multifamily construction grew 15 percent.
Nonbuilding construction rose 14 percent in October.
During the first 10 months of 2018, nonresidential building was down 2 percent compared with the same time period in 2017. Residential building increased 6 percent, and nonbuilding construction dropped 4 percent. By geographic region, the South Central increased 11 percent; South Atlantic rose 5 percent; Midwest grew 5 percent; West declined 1 percent; and Northeast dropped 18 percent.
