Every two weeks, Oldcastle Building Solutions Business Intelligence prepares a report focused on understanding and analyzing construction market data and trends.
This in-depth report is developed primarily for internal distribution, but Oldcastle Building Solutions exists to inform construction professionals like you, so we're making this report available for anyone who's interested in reading it.
What's New In This Report?
Highlights
The DMI fell 3.3% in July 2017 to 135.0, but is 6.9% higher than its year-ago rate.
The ConstructConnect Expansion Index, which measures growth in the value of project pipeline was 1.35 in August 2017 for the US. 257 of the 380 MSAs scored 1.00 or more, indicating expansion over last-year's values.
Construction Update
In July 2017, housing permits reflected an annual rate of 1.2M, while down in the month, permit activity is still 4.1% above the July 2016, year-ago rate.
Housing starts in July 2017 were down 5.6% from the year-ago rate, primarily due to a 33.7% contraction in multi-family starts.
The HMI in August 2017 rose 4 points to 68, with over-the-month gains in all components and regions of the index.
Economic Update
41 of 51 states showed year-over-year construction employment gains in June 2017; with the strongest gains in Rhode Island and the deepest contractions in the District of Columbia.
In August 2017 the CCI showed a 4.4% annual gain in construction costs, supported by ongoing increases in labor components.
