Nonresidential building plans ease back in March 2020

The drop in March was present in both components of the index, as the commercial component fell 0.8 percent while the institutional component was 0.2 percent lower. Click to enlarge | Charts: Dodge Data & Analytics

The Dodge Momentum Index dropped 0.6 percent in March to 146.5 from a revised February reading of 147.4.

The index, issued by Dodge Data & Analytics, is a monthly measure of the first report for nonresidential building projects in planning. According to Dodge, these have shown to lead construction spending for nonresidential buildings by a full year.

The drop in March was present in both components of the index, as the commercial component fell 0.8 percent while the institutional component was 0.2 percent lower.

According to Dodge, it is still very early on in the coronavirus pandemic, and March’s data would not fully capture any potential impact of the pandemic on construction planning.

Still, Dodge says it is heartening that projects continued to move into the early planning stages at a reasonable pace despite the near stoppage in economic activity over the last few weeks.

What’s unclear at this juncture is whether projects will continue through the planning life cycle to the start stage at the same pace as before the pandemic began due to workforce issues, supply constraints or forced moratoriums on construction from local officials, Dodge says. Dodge will monitor the progress of projects entering the planning process and will provide frequent updates as the crisis evolves.

Specific projects

In March, 14 projects – each with a value of $100 million or more – entered planning. The leading commercial projects were a $459 million office building in Washington and a $300 million office building in Long Island City, New York. The leading institutional projects were phases two and three of the Kaiser Permanente Moreno Valley Medical Center in Moreno Valley, California, totaling $513 million.

Dodge is a provider of analytics and software-based workflow integration solutions for the construction industry.