Construction Spending thru June year-to-date is still UP 5% over Jan-Jun 2019.
Here’s the Census Release of June Construction Spending census.gov/construction/c
Q2 2020 spending is down 4.8% from Q1 2020. Prior to the Pandemic impact, Q2 was predicted to be up 1% over Q1. So, then the drop is -5.8% from the initial forecast.
Comparing 2020 spending to 2019 shows a different story. Q1 2020 is up 9.5% vs Q1 2019. Q2 2020 is up 1.2% vs Q2 2019.
The monthly rate of spending, seasonally adjusted (saar), has declined every month since the Feb peak. For 3 months Jan, Feb, Mar, the saar of spending stayed within 0.25% of the peak. Now in June, the saar is down -6%. Most of the decline was in April, -3.5%. May dropped <2% mo/mo, and June declined <1%.
Residential year-to-date (ytd) spending is up almost 8% over 2019 (80% of that is renovations). In fact, SF+MF is up ytd only 2.8%, while renovations, which went from 33% of the market last year to 36% of the market now, is up 18% ytd. Residential has more downside due to reduction in new starts before resuming growth next year. While the 2nd half of 2019 increased at an average rate of 1%/month, The 2nd half of 2020 will decline by an average 0.5%/month. Residential spending for 2020 is forecast to finish flat to down 1%.
Non-building Infrastructure sector ytd is up 7% over Jan-Jun 2019. Biggest mover is the Power market up 17% ytd. Every market but Conservation is up ytd. Non-building spending is forecast to close out 2020 up 6% over 2019 with strength in Power and Highway.
Nonresidential Buildings spending ytd is level with 2019. Big movers up are Comm/Rtl up 6.7% and Public Safety up 42%.
The construction sector did not experience a massive loss of spending from project shutdowns in Q2. Q2 was down 5%-6% from the pre-pandemic forecast. Jun is down only 0.7% from May with half of all markets posting monthly gains.
AIA Consensus Forecast Nonresidential Bldgs Construction Spending to decline 8.1% for 2020. Is there even a path to get there? In the 1st 6mo ytd is up 0.25%. What would nonres bldgs need to post yoy in the 2nd half to end the year down 8.1%? Spending would need to post declines every month (yoy) for the next 6mo at a rate of -16.7%/month. However, the worst decline in Q2 was only -3.2%. It’s not likely at all that Nonres Bldgs spending will fall to that extent.
Here’s an example of the path it would take to get to the AIA Consensus Forecast for Commercial/Retail. The AIA 2020 Forecast is down 7.7%. But year-to-date Comm/Rtl is up 6.7%, a spread of 14.4%. (I’ll remind you again, it’s almost all warehouses). To drop 14.4%, from 6.7% in the 1st 6 months, to end down -7.7% at year end, the monthly rate in the 2nd half would need to be -28.8% each month. That’s not very likely.
For the next 6 months my yoy forecast for Nonres Bldgs spending is up 0.4%.
The BIG question here is, How much of the decline in Q2 was delays and how much was canceled permanently? There is no good report available that defines the total value of work stoppages and work cancellations.
Q2 spending was down 5%-6% from the pre-pandemic forecast. If all of that was work canceled, and therefore we keep those monthly yoy declines of 5%-6% for the rest of the year, then we could see 2020 spending for Nonres Bldgs finish down 2.5% to 3%. But it is not even suspected that all of the Q2 decline was work canceled. Expect most of that was work delayed. Therefore, 2nd half should perform better than Q2 and the forecast for Nonres Bldgs for 2020 is flat to up 1%.
The forecast now has 6 months of actual spending and 6 months remaining of forecast based on new construction starts and backlog. Cash flow forecast from backlog is reduced by delays and cancellations. This forecast projects about 20% for delays and about 2% for cancellations. Also new starts are forecast to drop about 10% in 2020.
The Starts cash flow model has predicted the spending pretty well. The forecast side shows residential has not yet hit bottom, but will grow after Q3 into 2021, while nonresidential buildings falls for the next 12 months.
Currently, the outlook for total construction spending in 2020 is up 1% to 2%. Prior to March the forecast was 6%, so the forecast, although still up 1-2%, has fallen about 5%.
Both Residential and Nonresidential Buildings are forecast within +/- 1% of 2019. Non-building Infrastructure is forecast up 6%-7%.
Currently, inflation in 2020 is expected to range about 3%-4%. If total construction spending grows only 1%-2%, real growth in volume (spending after inflation) is falling. For 2020 and 2021, volume is down. That will not support jobs growth.
Construction Analytics 
For me the big question is next year, the Architectural Billings is off 50%, with a slight stabilization this month. What does that mean for commercial?
LikeLike
For me the big question is next year, the Architectural Billings is off 50%, with a slight stabilization this month. What does that mean for commercial?
LikeLike
The pandemic is causing anxiety and some major changes in the home construction market. Everything from the touring process, to the building process, to the financing process, to the settlement process has been affected. But it doesn’t mean that it’s the end. We can still manage it.
LikeLike