ConstructConnect announced today that the latest month’s volume of construction starts, excluding residential work, was $30.8 billion, an increase of one-fifth (+21.1%) versus February’s figure of $25.5 billion (originally reported as $23.8 billion).
Read the full March 2020 Industry Snapshot article here: Nonresidential Construction Starts -13.4% Ytd in Q1, But Where to Now?.
The month-to-month gain was due to school projects (+62.8%) and engineering works (+59.3%).
March can often be the first month in the year when there is a pick-up in construction activity thanks to more favorable weather, as winter’s frostiness gives way to spring’s balmier breezes.
View this information as an infographic.
March 2020 nonresidential starts may have been up versus February, but they were no match for March of last year, -25.8%. Furthermore, at -20.2%, they failed to keep up with the average for March over the five-year period 2015 to 2019 inclusive.
Year to date nonresidential starts in March 2020 were -13.4% compared with the same first-to-third-month period of last year (i.e., Q1 2020 relative to Q1 2019).
Q1 Holds Little Relevance Moving Forward
The foregoing may be interesting to note, but it holds little relevance for the construction market moving forward. Nor is there much point in proceeding through this current Industry Snapshot checking off the same topic boxes (e.g., JOLTS results) as in previous versions. Due to the coronavirus crisis, the general economy and its accompanying construction scene are undergoing negative change with too great rapidity.
Click here to download the Construction Industry Snapshot Package – March 2020 PDF.
Click here for the Top 10 Project Starts in the U.S. – March 2020.
Click here for the Nonresidential Construction Starts Trend Graphs – March 2020.
Alex Carrick is Chief Economist for ConstructConnect. He has delivered presentations throughout North America on the U.S., Canadian and world construction outlooks. Mr. Carrick has been with the company since 1985. Links to his numerous articles are featured on Twitter @ConstructConnx, which has 50,000 followers.
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