The 1% gain for total construction starts on an unadjusted basis for the first eight months of 2013 was due to varied behavior by the three main construction sectors.  Residential building climbed 27% year-to-date, with single family housing up 30% and multifamily housing up 19%.  Nonbuilding construction fell 21% year-to-date, as a steep 68% plunge for electric utilities outweighed a slight 2% increase for public works.  Nonresidential building was down a modest 3% year-to-date, as the result of this pattern by major segment – commercial building, up 10%; institutional building, down 9%; and manufacturing building, down 14%.

By geography, total construction starts in the January-August period of 2013 showed gains in four regions – the Northeast, up 9%; the West, up 6%; the South Central, up 4%; and the Midwest, up 2%.  The South Atlantic was the one major region to report a year-to-date decline, falling 13%, as the comparison was against the first eight months of 2012 that included the start of two large nuclear power facilities.  If electric utilities are excluded from the year-to-date construction start statistics in the South Atlantic, then that region would register a 17% gain.

August 2013 Construction Starts

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August 2013 Construction Starts

Monthly Summary of Construction Starts

Prepared by McGraw Hill Construction Research & Analytics

SOURCE McGraw Hill Construction