Slight gain for construction starts expected through 2012

McGraw-Hill Construction, as part of its 2012 Dodge Construction Outlook Midyear Update, is predicting total construction starts in the United States to increase 2 percent this year. McGraw-Hill Construction revised its forecast from last October, when it predicted total construction starts to be slightly better than flat for the year.

“The construction industry has yet to move from a hesitant up-and-down pattern to more sustained expansion,” says Robert Murray, McGraw-Hill Construction’s vice president of economic affairs. “After plunging 23 percent in 2009, new construction starts edged up only 1 percent in 2010 and were unchanged in 2011, so the modest 2-percent increase predicted for 2012 is really more of the same.”

McGraw-Hill Construction also predicts commercial building to grow 10 percent this year, following the 12-percent gain in 2011. The institutional building market, however, is expected to fall an additional 10 percent, after sliding 11 percent in 2011. Public works construction will also slide further in 2012 (6 percent) after last year’s 14-percent decline, McGraw-Hill Construction predicts.