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Construction Spending 2016 – Midyear Summary
Summary 2016 Construction Spending
9-7-16
Total Construction Spending for July reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of $1.15 trillion, level with June which was revised upwards by $20 billion or nearly +1.8%. Monthly spending always gets revised in subsequent months. This year every month but May, which remained nearly unchanged, has been revised upwards, by an average of +1.4% and as much as 3.4%. Monthly values are subject to revision for two months after the first release and once again in May of the following year.
This plot, Construction Spending vs New Starts Cash Flows, shows actual spending (SAAR) by sector through July 2016 and projected trends of spending out to July 2017.
Previously I wrote that we should expect a short duration downturn in spending occurring between January and March. The expected monthly spending cash flows that would be generated from uneven new starts over the last two years indicated that a slowdown in spending would occur during the first quarter 2016. As it turns out, first quarter spending was much stronger than expected, averaging $1.17 trillion SAAR, primarily due to outstanding results in February and March for residential spending. But then April and May experienced significant declines, dropping to an average of only $1.14 trillion SAAR, down almost 3% from Q1. Now with June and July spending both up 1% from the April and May lows, it looks like we may be past that short duration downturn.
Total Construction Spending year-to-date (YTD) through July is up 5.6% over the same seven months 2015. Spending slowed in April and May from a 1st quarter average of $1.17 trillion that reached close to a 10 year high and falls just 4% short of the all-time high. However, it must be noted, that compares unadjusted current dollars, values of all dollars current in the year spent.
When comparing inflation adjusted constant dollars, all dollars adjusted to the same point in time, we can see 2016 spending is still 18% below the 2006 highs.
Total spending YTD through July is slightly ahead of what I predicted back in December, but it’s slightly below what I expected for May, June and July . I expect 2nd half spending to average above $1.2 trillion SAAR, but slightly lower than I originally forecast.
I’ve revised my 2016 spending forecast down slightly to total $1.190 trillion, up 7% from $1.112 trillion in 2015.
How does actual spending YTD compare to my prediction at the beginning of the year?
- Total predicted YTD through July $638.2b, actual YTD $647.7b (+$9.5bil, +1.5%).
- Residential predicted YTD $245.1b, actual YTD $259.2b (+$14.1bil, +5.8%).
- Nonresidential Bldgs predicted YTD $236.9b, actual YTD $228.1b (-$8.8bil, -3.7%).
- Non-building Infrastr predicted YTD $156.2b, actual YTD $160.5b (+$4.3bil, +2.8%).
Where are the revisions?
The single largest reduction in spending is in Nonresidential Buildings Manufacturing. Although there are other variances, that could account for the entire revision downward. Predicted construction starts for Manufacturing was lowered by nearly 35% after the initial start-of-year forecast was made.
Non-building Infrastructure spending increase is being supported by a 20%+ increase in power, which I didn’t expect. New starts for power projects have increased more than 20% since the initial forecast.
Residential construction had unusually large gains in February and March, almost all of that in residential renovations, offset only partially in April through July by declines mostly in new single-family housing.
Here’s my revised 2016 spending forecast based on YTD spending and new construction starts through July, compared to my prediction in December 2015.
- Total predicted Dec 2015 $1,206.2b, July 2016 $1,189.9b (-$16.3bil, -1.4%).
- Residential predicted Dec 2015 $473.8b, July 2016 $481.8b (+$8.0bil, +1.7%).
- Nonresdntl Bldgs predicted Dec 2015 $439.2b, July 2016 $410.9b (-$28.3bil, -6.4%).
- Non-bldg Infrastr predicted Dec 2015 $293.2b, July 2016 $297.3b (+$4.1bil, +1.4%).
Spending and construction starts are often confused by some analysts who refer to starts data as spending. Starts represent total project value recorded in the month the project begins. To determine spending activity, starts values must be spread out over the duration of the projects. Spending is dependent on cash flows each month generated from all previous construction starts. Cash flows expected based on Dodge Data construction starts are indicating a return to growth in spending in the 2nd half 2016. (See chart above Index Actual Construction Spending vs New Starts Cashflows).
Spending Breakout by Sector
Residential construction spending for July totaled a SAAR of $452 billion, remaining near level for the last four months. Residential spending YTD through July is up 6.5% over 2015. Spending slowed in April and May from a very strong 1st quarter average that reached close to a 10 year high. The current 3-month average is just 1% below the 1st quarter and is still at its highest since the 2nd half of 2007 but is 10% below the current dollar all-time high in 2006. I’m still expecting some upward revisions to June or July residential spending.
Residential spending just experienced the strongest three-year stretch of spending growth on record, up 60% in 2013-2014-2015. After taking out inflation, volume growth was only 31%, but that is still the strongest ever for three consecutive years. Spending growth in 2016 will reach only +9%. After adjusting for inflation that represents volume growth of less than +4%, the slowest in 5 years. New starts YTD (as reported by Dodge Data) although down from the 1st quarter, are still near post-recession highs. Starts from late 2015 and early 2016 will still be generating spending into early 2017. 2017 will repeat nearly identical to 2016. What we may be seeing is that it might be difficult to register another year of very high percentage growth in 2016 or 2017 because it is being measured against the 2015 10-year high. Another factor limiting very high growth may be a limited supply of labor to expand the workforce.
Total Nonresidential SAAR spending for July is $701 billion, down slightly from June, but monthly SAAR has varied only +/- 1% for the last six months. YTD spending compared to 2015 is up 5.1%. Nonresidential spending also slowed in April and May but is now up 1.5% from those lows. The current 3-month average is up slightly from the 1st quarter and is just 3% below the pre-recession 2008 current dollar high.
Nonresidential Buildings spending for July totaled a SAAR of $403 billion, down slightly from June but up 1.3% from the May dip. Spending YTD for nonresidential buildings through July is up 8.0% over 2015. The current 3-month average of $403 billion is up slightly from the 1st quarter but is still 9% below the peak in 2008.
Non-building Infrastructure spending for July fell to a SAAR of $289 billion, down only slightly over for the last four months. YTD spending through July is up only 1.3% over 2015. Spending began to slow in April and May and is now at the 2016 low. The current 3-month average is down 4% from the 1st quarter. However, spending on nonbuilding infrastructure reached an all-time high in the first half of 2014 and has remained near those highs through 2015 into the 1st quarter of 2016.
9-7-16
Public spending average for the 1st six months of 2016 is the highest since 2010 and is up 10% from the 2014 low point. YTD public spending is up 0.2% from 2015. All of Highway plus 80% of Educational makes up 55% of all public construction spending. The next largest markets, all of Sewage/Wastewater plus 70% of Transportation accounts for only 19% of public sending. All other markets combined make up less than 20%.
The biggest mover to total public spending this year is educational spending. Public educational spending is up only 4.0% YTD, but because it represents almost 25% of all public spending, it’s has a bigger net impact of +1.0% on moving the trend up than any other single public market. Public commercial spending is up 36.6% YTD but has only a 1% market share of public work. Highway and street is up 2.6% YTD. At 30% of total public that results in a net move of +0.8%. Office, public safety, power, sewage/waste disposal and water supply are all down YTD by a combined -5.3%. At a combined market share of 21% that nets a -1.1% reduction in YTD public spending.
Private spending is dominated by a 52% market share of residential work. At 6.6% growth that nets 3.4% growth in private spending. Several of the nonresidential building markets have high YTD growth (and/or a large market share of private work); lodging +30%, office +27%, Amusement +22%, commercial +10% and power +8%. These five markets combined represent 29% of private spending and combined are up +15% YTD for a net impact of +4.4% to private work.
For a base of reference, here’s a few points in spending history.
Total Construction Spending
- 8 years 1998-2005 up 77%
- 3 years 2003-2005 up 32%
- 3 years 2008-2010 down 30%
- 4 years 2012-2015 up 41%
Residential
- 8 years 1998-2005 up 133%
- 3 years 2003-2005 up 57%
- 3 years 2007-2009 down 60%
- 3 years 2013-2015 up 60%
Nonresidential Buildings
- 5 years 2004-2008 up 64%
- 3 years 2006-2008 up 45%
- 3 years 2009-2011 down 36%
- 2 years 2014-2015 up 25%
Non-building Infrastructure
- 7 years 1995-2001 up 56%
- 4 years 2005-2008 up 60%
- 3 years 2009-2011 down 8%
- 3 years 2012-2014 up 19%
See this post for expanded details on Construction Spending – Nonresidential Markets – Buildings and Infrastructure
See this post for expanded details on Construction Inflation
What Drives Construction Spending?
3-23-16
New construction starts drive construction spending. For all the discussion regarding the monthly rise and fall of spending, most of the spending in any given month is already predetermined since two thirds of all construction spending in the next 12 months comes from projects that were started prior to today. This is commonly referred to as backlog.
The pattern of spending does not follow the pattern of new starts which can fluctuate dramatically. It follows the pattern developed by the cashflow from all previous starts. Data for new construction starts is sourced from Dodge Data & Analytics. Cash flow is developed independently. Here’s a much simplified example of cashflow: a new $20 million project start is to be completed in 20 months, therefore we expect this project to generate $1 million of spending every month for the next 20 months.
This plot is an Index, so the ratios of starts and actual spending show the relative volume of each of these three major sectors as compared to each other.
Nonresidential buildings new construction starts were elevated for 16 out of the last 24 months. Starts were strong from February through July of 2015. A slowdown occurred in the second half of 2015 but the last four months have been gaining slowly. It looks like the backlog of elevated starts will keep spending rising at least until the end of 2016 before we see a slight dip in spending.
75% of all nonresidential building spending in 2016 comes from projects that were started between early 2014 and the end of 2015. Each month, new starts generate only 4%-5% of monthly spending. As we start the new year, backlog accounts for 95% of January spending. We know a lot about spending within the next few months, but what we have in backlog for December at the beginning of the year from previous starts accounts for only 50% of December activity. We will add about 4-5% more to December backlog from new starts each month this year.
Five out of six times in the last 18 months that nonbuilding infrastructure new construction starts jumped 25% to 50% above the running average it was due to massive new starts in the power sector. Some of these projects are worth several billions of dollars. While this causes new starts to fluctuate wildly, these projects sometimes take four to five years from beginning to completion, so the cash flow is spread out over a very long period, therefore spending does not experience the same magnitude of monthly change as starts.
80% of all nonbuilding spending in 2016 comes from projects that started from mid-2013 through the end of 2015. New starts each month generate only about 3% of monthly spending.
The average of residential starts for the last three months is higher than any time since 2007 when residential starts were already on the decline by 24% from the previous year. The volume of residential starts predicts that spending should be higher than it is currently. This could mean that some starts have been delayed. Or, it could be because residential starts have the shortest duration, they may be the most difficult to predict spending from starts.
55% of all residential building spending in 2016 comes from projects that started between late 2014 and the end of 2015. New starts each month generate almost 10% of monthly spending.
(6-5-16) RE: a discussion related to a decline in nonresidential permits suggests nonresidential spending will decline. Yes, but at what rate? Permits are directly related to new construction starts. Since every month of new starts has an impact of only 4-5% on nonres spending in every following month for the next 20-25 months, then a 10% drop in permits in a single month would cause only a 0.4% to 0.5% reduction in spending in each of the following 20-25 months. It would take a prolonged trend of declining permits and therefore declining new starts to really see a dramatic decline in spending, and then the greatest effect would be well out into the future.
Welcome to the New Year. What’s Up With Construction?
It’s been about two weeks since I wrote a blog post. With good reason. I’ve spent the last few weeks working sometimes 10 or 12 hour days getting all the information for and writing a construction economics report. Coming soon!
Here’s a few tidbits out of the mass.
The nonresidential buildings construction boom that is going on right now could become an historic expansion. I’m predicting 13.7% growth in 2016. Added to 8.8% in 2014 and 17.1% in 2015 that could be 39.6% growth in 3 years 2014-15-16.
Only 3 year periods back to 1993 that are comparable: 2006-07-08 40.1% and 1995-96-97 32%.
Similarly,
Total construction spending growth for the 3 years 2014-15-16 could reach 30%. I forecast 9.7% growth in 2016.
Only 3 year periods back to 1993 that are comparable: 2003-04-05 29% and 1998-99-2000 25%.
Well, there is one more comparable. The last three years of total construction spending growth for 2013-14-15 was up 27%, so this expansion is already ranked 2nd.
What we see here is the 1st or 2nd most active 3 year period of growth in construction on record back to 1993, and it’s already been happening for two or three years.
For perspective, residential spending for 2013-14-15 grew 46%! Similar only to residential spending in 2003-04-05 at 48%.
Welcome to the new year. So let’s go see if we can break some records.
Forecasting Nonresidential Buildings Markets 2015 Results
Here are latest updates for 2015 predictions in nonresidential buildings markets. Eight firms have posted forecasts for spending growth in nonresidential construction markets.
Actual spending put-in-place for October year-to-date (YTD) is included in the YTD shown at the top of the table. Don’t expect most markets to change much in the last two months of data. Both Commercial/Retail and Manufacturing have been declining in recent months and are expected to continue to drop slightly.
Once the September YTD data is in, a strong forecast for the year can be made with only three months outstanding. It will be interesting to look back at this chart when the final numbers for 2015 become available in February 2016 to see how we did. Earlier posts and reports can be referenced to see forecasts from midyear.
Construction Spending 2015-2016 – How Do The Forecasts Compare?
Throughout the year a number of firms provide forecasts of construction spending. Spending projections give us an indication of the level of activity to expect. Here’s a summary of the most recent forecasts.
Actual spending put-in-place for October year-to-date (YTD) became available December 1st and new construction starts for October became available November 23rd. My GBCo 12-5-15 forecast includes both of those data updates. Not all these firms have yet incorporated the October data into their analysis and some will update in the near future. Most all of these values will be updated in January. Also, the AIA semi-annual Consensus report, forecasts of nonresidential buildings only, will come out in January. Again I’ll point out, my numbers have not changed much since July when I predicted $1067 for total, $388 for residential and $397 for nonres bldgs spending in 2015. Click on this link to an older post that shows the midyear predictions for three firms.
Once spending data through September is available it allows an analysis of a select data set that gives a prediction of the year end result within +/- 1%. I use this analysis to check my forecast. It indicates 2015 should finish with total spending between $1.067 trillion and $1.087 trillion and nonresidential buildings spending between $386 billion and $395 billion. The actual spending total has not fallen outside the statistical range since 2001, as far back as I’ve been tracking the data. I’m confident that total spending for the year will fall within this predicted range. My 2015 forecast of $1.067 trillion total and $397 billion for nonresidential buildings falls within those ranges.
Spending in any given month is the sum total contributed by all the projects that started and are currently underway. That includes spending from projects that started recently with foundations just coming out of the ground and also projects that started 18-36 months ago that are near completion. Spending patterns are affected mostly by the pattern of starts recorded over the period 12-36 months ago. New starts will generate the next 2 to 3 years of spending. Only if the starts pattern is even in growth will spending be even in growth. That will not be the case in 2016.
What we do know is that most starts that will generate spending next year are already in place. For the 2016 forecast, new starts booked through December 2015 will contribute 75% to nonresidential buildings spending, 55% to residential spending and 80% to spending on nonbuilding infrastructure. The pattern of spending will not be a constant upward slope.
This table compares all 2015 values to the final of $330 billion in 2014. For 2016 each firm is compared to their own 2015 value. Once an actual value is determined for 2015 (which won’t be until March 1, 2016) I cannot be certain if some other firms forecast dollars change or percent floats. In the Gilbane forecast, 2016 percent would float. This will also affect the 2016 values in the first table in this blog post.
Construction Spending – Reports of It’s Death May Be Greatly Exaggerated
Is activity climbing or declining? Will costs go up or down? Will we have a winter slowdown? Where are the markets headed? I read an article this morning that stated “momentum is losing steam.” Is it?
I’ve been gathering Construction economic reports for comparison and I see some predictions for 2016 that frankly are only about what I’m predicting for 2015. To be fair, there are reliable predictions that indicate growth similar to what I predict. When data was available for two thirds or better of 2015 total activity there were still predictions for how specific markets would finish the year that varied by as much as 20% to 30%. In one instance the year-to-date actual through September has already exceeded the year end estimate from one firm. Surprising, once that much actual year-to-date information is in hand that there could be that much variation.
And how will markets perform in 2016? Here’s a few examples from a variety of sources; educational, healthcare, lodging and manufacturing all have more than one estimate for 2016 growth in the range of 0% to 4%, values that would not keep spending growth up with inflation, meaning volume would actually decline. My estimates for those markets are all 10% or higher. Variations of 10% to 15% in growth are common in the data.
So, here’s a few comments on predictions and on what to expect.
Unless something Earth-shattering happens, there is a select set of monthly data that statistically predicts the yearly outcome for total spending and market spending, within +/-1.5% for a smaller data set and within +/-1% for a slightly larger data set, but you have to wait longer to get that larger data set. It failed once in 14 years, by 1/2 of 1 percent. The same analysis can be performed individually for markets and sectors. The potential variance increases for some markets to about +/-3%.
The Dodge Momentum Index and the AIA Inquiries index are leading indicators to potential future work. They foretell activity in the Architectural Billings Index (ABI), which is a leading indicator to new construction starts. New starts provide the future cash flows for spending.
Spending in any given month is the sum of how much can be put-in-place generated by the cash flow from each of the project starts that got booked in the previous year or two, or three for long duration projects. For the next month the unknown amount is only about 3% or 5% that will be generated by new starts in the most recent 30 days. The remainder is already booked. Two months out the prediction includes 6% to 10% uncertainty, and so on.
Expect a winter slowdown. It’s not because of the weather. There may be additional repercussions if we experience severe weather, but the slowdown is predetermined because very large starts that got booked from a year to two years ago are reaching completion and dropping out of the monthly spending. Starts can be erratic. This causes periodic fluctuations in monthly spending. It’s normal.
Also what may not be apparent is what happens due to the difference in seasonally adjusted (SA) and not seasonally adjusted (NSA) values. Readers most often track the changes in SA values, but spending is generated from cash flow and cash flow is generated from the NSA values. Differences can be huge. As an example, August starts with an SA of $300bil produce 50% more actual NSA dollar volume to cash flow than February starts with an SA of $300bil. This may cause erratic spending patterns.
Residential spending will slow several percent to a low point in February before resuming upward momentum to finish the year stronger than 2015. Periods of low start volumes need to work their way thru the system and this produces growth patterns with periodic dips.
Nonresidential buildings will slow only moderately in the next few months before we see 15% growth through the middle of the year, only to see another slowdown late next year, leading into a considerably slower 2017. Office new construction starts in 2015 are up 50% from 3 years ago, educational up 25% over same period. Manufacturing starts are down 70% in 2015 and that is still at the second highest ever recorded. Total spending is still strong in 2016 at 10% growth. Major contributions appear from institutional work in educational and healthcare. Office and manufacturing still provide very strong support to growth.
Infrastructure projects spending will decline for the next six months due to the ending of massive projects that started 24 to 42 months ago. There will be large advances in spending midyear before we experience another slowdown later in 2016. I’m currently predicting spending will grow less than 2% in 2016, held down by a 10% drop in Power the second largest component of infrastructure work.
Mixed within the three sectors above are Private and Public spending. Residential is about 98% private and makes up about 50% of all private work. Along with manufacturing and large portions of power, commercial/retail, office and healthcare makes up nearly 90% of all private work. Private growth is the sum of the parts, predicted at 10%+ for 2016. Public work is all or a large portion of highway/street, educational, transportation and sewage/waste. Along with small contributions from water and a portion of power, these markets comprise 80% of all public work. Again, the sum of parts shows growth at 8% in 2016.
From the middle of Q1’16 to the end of Q3 we will register an annual growth rate of 20%, but due to the dips at the beginning and the end of the year total 2016 construction spending growth will come in at 11%. Construction spending momentum is not losing steam. We are seeing the affect of a few years of erratic growth patterns and a shift from commercial to institutional work.
Construction Spending Nonres Bldgs on a Roll > What it Means for Inflation
This is clearly going to measure up as the breakout year for spending on nonresidential buildings. Growth year-to-date (YTD) is up 18.3%. We will finish the year with total growth up 17%. The last time we saw growth like this was 2007. In fact, 2007 is the only time % growth (and $ volume growth) was ever larger than this year.
Since last December I have been predicting a range from 14% to 20% growth in 2015 nonresidential buildings spending. It looks like we will finish the year right in the middle of that range.
By far the largest $ contribution comes from the growth in manufacturing buildings, up 50% and up $23bil YTD. Next closest is office buildings, up 22% and up $8.3bil YTD. Lodging, Commercial-Retail, Educational and Amusement-Recreation are each up approximately $4bil YTD, quite impressive for Lodging and Amusement-Rec since they both total only $17bil YTD.
Nonresidential buildings spending will maintain greater than 10% growth in 2016 something achieved only 5 times in 25 years. Next year, educational and healthcare buildings will both contribute strongly to the total annual growth. Manufacturing, Office and Lodging will all settle back but still maintain 10% or greater growth. Commercial-retail, which had 3 years of substantial growth from 2012 to 2014 adding nearly 50% spending growth during that time, will grow only 2-3% next year.
With last year, this year and next, nonresidential buildings spending will reach growth of 40% in three years, a growth rate exceeded only once in history, during the last construction boom from 2006 to 2008. Along with that boom in spending came the highest construction inflation ever recorded, an average inflation over 8% per year for 4 years. I expect we are headed there again.
revised / updated table 12-9-15 to include ABC & BMarkstein forecasts.
Predictions – 2015 Spending for Nonresidential Construction Markets
Compiled in one neat table, here are 2015 predictions from eleven construction data firms for spending growth in nonresidential markets. Several firms provided mid-year estimates and recent estimates. Some provided only mid-year and some just recent estimates. Midyear estimates are separated so changes can be seen to current estimates.
Actual spending put-in-place for September year-to-date (YTD) became available November 2nd and new construction starts for October became available November 23rd.
There is a wide range of variance in predictions with the closest spreads at 9% and the widest spreads in lodging and manufacturing markets. It will be interesting to look back at this chart when the final numbers for 2015 become available in February 2016 to see how we did.
- One recent estimate published in Engineering News Record (ENR) magazine 11-16-15 lists 7% growth for manufacturing buildings. Each of the first nine months in 2015, the year over year growth has ranged between 40% and 60%, so the huge growth expected has been apparent for some time. Even if the last three months drop 15% below the current average we will still finish the year up 40%.
- For growth in educational buildings to fall to only 3%, the last three months would need to drop 15% below the current six month average, a change we will not very likely see.
- The spread on lodging is 18%, from the low estimate of 15% to high of 33%. YTD lodging through nine months is up 31% over last year. To finish at less than 25% growth in 2015, spending for the next three months would need to drop 20% from current levels.
We get a chance to tweak these numbers a little tighter when October spending gets released on December 1st.
Nonresidential Buildings Construction Spending 2015 – How Do Industry Predictions Compare?
Throughout the year a number of firms provide predictions of various construction data. Some firms provide estimates for all segments of construction. More firms provide estimates only for spending on nonresidential buildings. This is a summary of various firms estimates published in the 2nd quarter and also for those who’ve updated their estimate recently.
The current available spending data through August allows an analysis of a select data set that gives a prediction of the year end result within +/- 1.5%. My current data predicts 2015 will finish with nonresidential spending at $393 billion, with a potential range between $387 billion and $400 billion. We will have even better data on November 2nd when the US Census publishes construction spending for the month of September. Once the September data is incorporated into the monthly totals, an analysis of a select data set provides a prediction of the year-end totals that has not varied more than +/- 1% from the end-of-year actual since 2002, as far back as the market data is available.
Construction Spending Market Performance of Major Nonresidential Buildings 2015-2016
The Construction Spending BOOM in 2015 is being led by spending on nonresidential buildings. Spending on nonresidential buildings year-to-date (YTD) is +20%, +$41 billion. For housing the YTD is +11%, +$24 billion and for nonbuilding infrastructure projects YTD is -2.5%, -$5 billion.
Let’s take a look at the current growth trends to find out where they are headed.
In 2004-2006, residential spending was 55% of all construction spending. The annual growth in 2004 was 19% and in 2005 it was 15%. For the last 5 years residential spending has been only 32%-37% of total spending. In 2012 & 2013, residential led with annual spending gains of 13% and 19%. In 2014 & 2015, nonresidential buildings, also at 37% of total spending, led the gains at 9% and 19% growth. In 2016 the lead shifts back to residential with a projected growth of 14%. Infrastructure has not led growth since 2007 and 2008 when that sector had growth of 19% and 10%, at a time when residential spending was declining by 19% and 28%.
We can get a very good idea of nonresidential buildings spending and growth by looking at the five major markets. These five markets make up 85% of all nonresidential buildings construction spending and half of total 2015 construction spending growth.
See my blog post on October 11, 2015. I wrote:
“New nonresidential buildings construction starts cash flows indicate spending will continue to grow until Feb-Mar 2016, then drop consistently each month until Q3 2016. The decline is almost entirely due to big starts from Q3-Q4 2014 finishing and dropping out of the monthly spending numbers.”
More detail of how each market will perform, and why, follows.
Educational Construction Spending 2016
Spending in 2016 is projected to grow +5% over 2015. Other industry projections for educational spending in 2016 range from 1.5% to 12% growth over 2015, with the average of those seven estimates at 6%. As of August 2015, project starts that will generate 60% of all spending in 2016 are already booked.
Starts for the first 8 months of 2015 were up 12% from the same 8 months of 2014. Educational spending increased only 4% year-to-date 2015 from the same period 2014, but the current annual rate of growth is 11%. Monthly spending is increasing and should continue to do so at least until mid-2016 before dropping off slightly into year end.
Healthcare Construction Spending 2016
Spending for healthcare is expected to remain flat with no growth in spending in 2016. Other industry projections for healthcare spending in 2016 range from 3% to 12% averaging 6% growth. As of August 2015, project starts already booked will generate 60% of all spending in 2016. New starts in 2016 generate about 25% of the total spending in 2016. If we get some very large new starts in the next few months, that could change total spending projections in 2016. Starts would need to increase 20% ( every month) over my projections for the next 16 months to reach 6% growth in spending next year.
Starts for the first 8 months of 2015 were down 4% from the same 8 months of 2014 and most recently have been declining. 2014 starts grew only 2% over 2013. Healthcare spending had an annual growth rate of 5% in the first eight months of 2015. The decline in new starts signals a projected decline in spending for the next 8 months. Spending growth resumes in mid-2016 but at a very low 3% annual rate and that from an already low rate of spending at the start of the year.
Commercial/Retail Construction Spending 2016
Spending in 2016 is projected to grow +7% over 2015. Other industry projections for office spending in 2016 range from 5.5% to 15% growth over 2015, with the average of those estimates at 10%. As of August 2015, project starts that will generate 55% of all spending in 2016 are already booked.
Starts for the first 8 months of 2015 were up 17% from the same 8 months of 2014. Commercial spending increased 15% in the first half 2015 from the first half of 2014, but then spending declined by 8% in the last three months and may continue to decline for the next few months. Spending will resume a growth rate of 15% annual in the first 8 months of 2016. Commercial spending will peak in the second quarter 2016 before dropping again into year end.
Office Construction Spending 2016
Spending in 2016 is projected to grow +8% over 2015. Seven other industry projections for office spending in 2016 range from 7% to 18% growth over 2015, with the average of those seven estimates at 12%. As of August 2015, project starts that will generate 55% of all spending in 2016 are already booked.
Starts for the first 8 months of 2015 were 23% lower than the first 8 months of 2014 Spending from 2014 starts will start to drop off in late 2015 and early 2016 and based on new starts in 2015, by mid-2016 the monthly rate of spending will start to decline, keeping totals for 2016 to less than 10% growth. Spending on office buildings in 2016 will peak in the 1st half year with the 2nd half coming in 10% lower.
Manufacturing Construction Spending 2016
Spending in 2016 is projected to grow +9% over 2015. Seven other industry projections for manufacturing buildings spending in 2016 range from 5% to 18% growth over 2015, with the average of those seven estimates at 11%. As of August 2015, project starts that will generate 70% of all spending in 2016 are already booked.
Starts for the first 8 months of 2015 were only 6% lower than the first 8 months of 2014. However, even if starts for the next 4 months increase each month by 50% they will still not equal the amount of starts in the last 4 months of 2014. Total starts for 2015 are projected to finish 20% lower than 2014. That’s probably a good thing since 2014 starts were up 87% from 2013, the highest annual growth ever recorded for any market sector.
Spending from 2014 starts will start to drop off in late 2015. Spending reached a peak this year in the 2nd quarter but is expected to drop for the next five to six months. Spending on manufacturing buildings in 2016 will again peak in the 2nd quarter and then drop off into the end of the year.
Construction Analytics 