March contracts increase 23 percent
McGraw-Hill Construction, a division of The McGraw-Hill Cos., New York, has reported construction starts increased 23 percent in March. For the 12 months ending in March, total construction basically was unchanged compared with the 12 months ending March 2011."Aside from the lift coming from electric utilities, the March statistics show construction activity continues to hover within a set range, with gains for some project types being offset by weakness for other project types," says Robert A. Murray, vice president of economic affairs for McGraw-Hill Construction. "On balance, the construction industry still can be viewed as struggling to see renewed expansion take hold in a sustained and broad-based manner."
Nonresidential building construction fell 4 percent in March. In the commercial category, hotel construction surged 91 percent; warehouse construction grew 19 percent; office construction climbed 9 percent; store construction fell 18 percent; and manufacturing plant construction plunged 61 percent. In the institutional category, educational buildings increased 10 percent; public buildings was unchanged; transportation terminals dropped 9 percent; amusement-related construction decreased 21 percent; churches declined 21 percent; and health care facility construction fell 30 percent.
Residential building construction grew 2 percent in March. Single-family housing increased 1 percent, and multifamily construction rose 5 percent.
Nonbuilding construction increased 79 percent in March.
During the first three months of 2012, nonresidential building decreased 25 percent compared with the first three months of 2011. Residential building was up 21 percent, and nonbuilding construction increased 2 percent. By geographic region, the South Atlantic rose 54 percent; Midwest increased 6 percent; Northeast dropped 13 percent; West fell 22 percent; and South Central decreased 23 percent.
Date : 4/24/2012 12:00 AM