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?
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HighlightsNov 2016 ABI was essentially unchanged at 50.6, above the neutral threshold ENR’s Annual Construction Cost Index up 3.9% in December 2016 |
Construction UpdateNovember 2016 Housing Permits down 6.6% since last year; Starts also down 6.9% in year New Single-Family sales: 592K houses, 16.5% above the November 2015 estimate |
Economic UpdateUnemployment little changed at 4.7% with 156K jobs added in December 3rd estimate of real GDP for Q3 2016 is 3.5%, above 1st and 2nd estimates |
Key Takeaways
- The Architectural Billings Index (ABI), a 9-12 month leading indicator for commercial construction, was essentially unchanged at 50.6 in November 2016, a second consecutive month above the 50 (neutral) threshold
- In December, the Construction Cost Index (CCI) by ENR showed 3.9% annual growth, an increase of 0.3% on the November reading
- Housing permits in November 2016 were 1.2M, a 6.6% decline from last year
- Housing starts in November 2016 were 1.1M, 6.9% below the November 2015 estimate; growth in Single Family has been offset by sharp declines in Multi-family
- 592K new Single-family houses were sold in November 2016, 16.5% above the November 2015 estimate
- In December 2016 the unemployment was little changed at 4.7%, with 156K non-farm jobs added
- The third estimate of Q3 2016 GDP was 3.5%, above the first and second estimates for the quarter; and, well above the 1.4% growth in Q2
