Construction + Economy

On the heels of a modest uptick in December, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) dropped to a historic low level in January. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the [...]

Jim Haughey, chief economist for Reed Construction Data, writes about the January 2009 value of construction starts, excluding residential, at the Reed website here. Overall, the value of construction starts in January 2009 was up 5.3% over January 2008, but starts fell 23% from December, which, after accounting for the usual seasonal decline in January, [...]

The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce has announced that construction spending during December 2008 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,053.7 billion, 1.4% below the revised November estimate of $1,068.8 billion. The December figure is 3.6% below the December 2007 estimate of $1,093.5 billion. The value of construction in [...]

New proposed infrastructure and public building investments will create or support nearly 2 million jobs throughout the entire economy in part because of the economic slowdown and massive construction layoffs that have occurred, George Mason University economist Stephen Fuller argued during Congressional testimony on behalf of the Associated General Contractors of America. Professor Fuller noted [...]

As the overall economy continues to struggle, nonresidential construction spending is expected to decrease by 11% in 2009 in inflation-adjusted terms, according to the AIA Consensus Construction Forecast. This semi-annual forecast is based on a survey of the nation’s top construction forecasters, including McGraw Hill Construction, Global Insight, Moody’s Economy.com, Reed Business Information and FMI. [...]

Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes held at a record low in December as deepening economic turmoil, a deteriorating job market, and an ongoing flow of foreclosed homes onto the market continued to negatively impact sales conditions. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) did not budge [...]

The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce recently announced that construction spending during November 2008 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,078.4 billion, 0.6% (±1.6%) below the revised October estimate of $1,085.3 billion. The November figure is 3.3% (±2.2%) below the November 2007 estimate of $1,115.3 billion. During the first [...]