Good News from the Construction Industry
March 24, 2010A ray of hope…. Jim Haughey from Reed Construction Data reported last week, “The value of construction starts increased 4% in January after a weak December in spite of continuing unseasonably poor construction weather. Starts were 25% higher than in the previous January. Job-site construction spending fell 10% since last January. Interpret the divergence this way. The sharp decline in starts in early 2009 cut starts below completions leading to the year-long fall in construction spending. Starts plunged nearly 50% from August 2008 to June 2009. Since then, starts have rebounded nearly 50% so the pipeline of work is again expanding and will lead to resumed increases in monthly construction spending in a few months, with progressively larger gains through 2011.”
