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January contracts decrease 1 percent

McGraw-Hill Construction, a division of The McGraw-Hill Cos., New York, has reported construction starts decreased 1 percent in January. Total construction was down 8 percent in January compared with January 2009.

"Although down slightly from the previous month, January's activity is consistent with the sense that construction starts have at least stabilized at a low level," says Robert A. Murray, vice president of economic affairs for McGraw-Hill Construction. "Relative to the extended decline that took place from 2006 through early 2009, that's good news. The cautionary note is that it's still too early to say that renewed expansion for overall construction activity has taken hold.

"On the plus side, the public works sector is seeing strength for transportation-related projects supported by the federal stimulus funding," he continues. "Single-family housing reached bottom during early 2009 and has since shown modest improvement. Nonresidential building has seen a pickup for publicly funded structure types such as transportation terminals and courthouses. However, the commercial categories remain extremely depressed and, given tight bank lending and weak employment, are likely to stay that way throughout 2010."

Nonresidential building construction increased 11 percent in January. In the commercial category, store construction fell 24 percent; hotel construction declined 24 percent; office construction decreased 38 percent; and warehouse construction dropped 42 percent. In the institutional category, transportation terminals soared 818 percent, largely because of a massive transit complex being constructed in New York; public buildings jumped 52 percent; health care facility construction rose 39 percent; churches increased 3 percent; educational buildings fell 22 percent; and amusement-related construction plunged 47 percent.

Residential building construction held steady in January. Single-family housing increased 1 percent, and multifamily construction decreased 4 percent.

Nonbuilding construction decreased 15 percent in January.

During the 12 months ending January 2010, nonresidential building decreased 30 percent compared with the 12 months ending January 2009. Residential building was down 27 percent, and nonbuilding construction decreased 9 percent. By geographic region, the Northeast dropped 18 percent; South Central fell 21 percent; South Atlantic dropped 23 percent; Midwest decreased 24 percent; and West declined 28 percent.

2/27/2010  

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