Building Design+Construction's monthly Market Intelligence Report offers a snapshot of the health of the U.S. building construction industry, including the commercial, multifamily, institutional, and industrial building sectors. This report tracks the latest metrics related to construction spending, demand for design services, contractor backlogs, and material price trends.
Data for the Market Intelligence Report is gleaned from reputable economic sources, including the American Institute of Architects, Associated Builders and Contractors, and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Here are some of the highlights from the February 2024 report:
- Spending on vertical construction (i.e., "commercial buildings" work) is at a near all-time high, at $851.4 billion in annualized spending. However, inflation plays into this equation; building projects are more costly to plan, design, and build.
- Multifamily continues to shine, with 11.9% YOY growth to $135.9 billion in annual spending. Economists are calling for a slowdown, but not until 2025-26. Even at that, construction spending will hover at near all-time highs.
- Other hot sectors: manufacturing, education, healthcare, public safety, and religious.
- The 2024-25 forecast (from AIA) for key markets looks promising; only commercial/retail and office are expected to see a pullback in construction spending. Hotels, multifamily, education, and healthcare are all expected to see strong spending increases.
- The average U.S. contractor currently has 9.1 months worth of building construction work in the pipeline, which is slightly higher for the month and on par with the previous year.
- AIA's Architecture Billings Index has remained below 50 for the past six months, which means more firms than not are experiencing a decrease in billings.
- Construction material prices have largely stabilized. We're not seeing the volatile swings in prices and availability experienced during the pandemic.
Related Stories
Market Data | Jun 2, 2021
Construction employment in April lags pre-covid February 2020 level in 107 metro areas
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land and Odessa, Texas have worst 14-month construction job losses.
Market Data | Jun 1, 2021
Nonresidential construction spending decreases 0.5% in April
Spending was down on a monthly basis in nine of 16 nonresidential subcategories.
Market Data | Jun 1, 2021
Nonresidential construction outlays drop in April to two-year low
Public and private work declines amid supply-chain woes, soaring costs.
Market Data | May 24, 2021
Construction employment in April remains below pre-pandemic peak in 36 states and D.C.
Texas and Louisiana have worst job losses since February 2020, while Utah and Idaho are the top gainers.
Market Data | May 19, 2021
Design activity strongly increases
Demand signals construction is recovering.
Multifamily Housing | May 18, 2021
Multifamily housing sector sees near record proposal activity in early 2021
The multifamily sector led all housing submarkets, and was third among all 58 submarkets tracked by PSMJ in the first quarter of 2021.
Market Data | May 18, 2021
Grumman|Butkus Associates publishes 2020 edition of Hospital Benchmarking Survey
The report examines electricity, fossil fuel, water/sewer, and carbon footprint.
Market Data | May 13, 2021
Proliferating materials price increases and supply chain disruptions squeeze contractors and threaten to undermine economic recovery
Producer price index data for April shows wide variety of materials with double-digit price increases.
Market Data | May 7, 2021
Construction employment stalls in April
Soaring costs, supply-chain challenges, and workforce shortages undermine industry's recovery.
Market Data | May 4, 2021
Nonresidential construction outlays drop in March for fourth-straight month
Weak demand, supply-chain woes make further declines likely.