Dodge Data & Analytics, New York, has reported construction starts rose 0.7% in January after rising 2.6% in December 2025.
Nonresidential building construction fell 15.4% in January as commercial starts fell 27.3% and institutional starts declined 15.2%. Manufacturing starts rose 97.5%.
Residential building construction fell 6.4% in January. Single-family housing increased 1.5%, and multifamily starts fell 17.8%.
Nonbuilding construction rose 24.3% in January.
For the 12 months ending January, total construction starts were up 6.1% compared with January 2025. Nonbuilding construction rose 21%; nonresidential building climbed 5.5%; and residential building fell 6%.
“Nonbuilding construction remained the primary engine of growth in the first month of 2026,” said Eric Gaus, chief economist at Dodge Construction Network. “Three mega projects in the nonbuilding sector accounted for nearly $20 billion or almost half of the growth in January, which would mean total construction would have been negative without those three projects.”
