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Nonresidential Construction Starts Rise 14.5% in June, Fall 4.8% Year-to-Date
Cincinnati, Ohio, July 22, 2024—ConstructConnect, a leading provider of software solutions for the preconstruction industry, announced today that the June 2024 volume of Total Nonresidential construction starts—the sum of Nonresidential Building and Heavy Engineering—was $66.5 billion, an increase of $8.4 billion, or 14.5%, versus a revised May reading of $58.1 billion.
Year-to-date (YTD), Nonresidential Building construction starts totaled $176.6 billion, down 12.2% from the same period a year ago. YTD spending performance by categories has significantly varied from persistent spending on projects valued at or above $1 billion, also known as megaprojects.
Category Performance Mixed
Sixteen out of 34 subcategories monitored by ConstructConnect showed month-over-month growth in June. Chief Economist Michael Guckes noted month-over-month leaders in Power Infrastructure, up 4,437% (due to a nearly $10 billion offshore wind-energy project in Virginia), followed by Dams, Canals, and Marine Work up 84.5%, Hospitals and Clinics rose 57.3%, and Elementary and Preschools added 45.4%.
Commercial, Institutional, Industrial, and Heavy Engineering reported mixed results. Guckes added, “In general, category results continue to depict an industry still struggling to find its footing.”
- Commercial spending fell considerably, dropping 26.2% month-on-month and 7.9% YTD.
- Institutional spending squeezed out small monthly and YTD gains of 1.1% and 1.6%, respectively.
- Month-on-month results for Industrial spending continued to retreat from its mid-2022 peak, dropping 61.5% month-on-month and dipping 43.5% YTD. Guckes discusses Is Industrial Spending About to Rebound After a Difficult Period of Normalization? in the July 2024 Construction Economy Snapshot.
- Heavy Engineering continued outperforming the market with a monthly rise of 58.2% and a YTD of 16.6%. June’s exceptional Heavy Engineering starts played a crucial role in the month’s reading of Total Nonresidential spending, which gained 14.5%.
Unfortunately, longer-term measures of Total Construction’s spending direction continue to be overwhelmed by contracting Nonresidential Building and Residential spending headwinds. Until macroeconomic conditions improve, likely led by interest rates and consumer sentiment, it will be hard to know exactly when the sector can expect its next broad-based rebound.
Michael Guckes, Chief Economist
ConstructConnect
Construction Employment
All categories of construction employment climbed higher during June, a feat that occurred only once before in 2024.
The total number of US construction jobs increased by 27,000 in June, with Nonresidential building adding 6,000, Engineering/Civil rising by 6,000, and the Nonresidential sub-trades tacking on 9,000.
In the 12 months ending June 2024, average hourly construction wages climbed 4.8% to $38.15 per hour. The average paid construction worker’s inflation-adjusted wage has increased by 1.8% over the last year, against US inflation of 3.0% in the same period.
Read the full report in the Construction Economy Snapshot for more details, including regional starts and analysis.
About ConstructConnect
Construction Starts Here™ at ConstructConnect, where our mission is to help the construction industry start every project on a solid foundation. A leading provider of software solutions for the preconstruction industry, ConstructConnect empowers commercial construction firms to streamline their workflows and maximize productivity. ConstructConnect operates as a business unit of Roper Technologies (Nasdaq: ROP), a constituent of the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, and Fortune 1000.
