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?
HighlightsBuilders’ confidence dipped 2 points in June 2017 to 67 May 2017 ABI rebounded to 53.0 after April dip to 50.9, above Neutral (50) |
Construction UpdateMay 2017 Housing Permits down 0.8% from last year; starts also down 2.4% in year New single family sales in May 2017: 610K houses, 8.9% above its year-ago rate |
Economic Update42 of 51 states showed year-over-year gains in construction employment May 2017 CPI-U (inflation) decreased 0.1%, following 0.2% gain in April |
Key Takeaways
- The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) in June 2017 dipped 2 points to 67, following May 2017's revised score of 69
- The Architectural Billings Index (ABI), a 9-12 month leading indicator for commercial construction rebounded in May 2017 to a score of 53.0, above the neutral (50) mark
- Housing permits contracted in May 2017 to 1.2M, 0.8% below May 2016's rate; Single Family permits made gains over the year up 6.0%, while Multi-Family permits experienced a 12.2% year-over-year decline
- Housing starts decreased in May 2017, down 2.4% from last year to 1.1M: Single Family starts were up 8.5%; while Multi-Family starts were down 23.0% from last year
- 610K new Single Family homes were sold in May 2017, 8.9% above the May 2016 rate. Sales in the month rebounded 2.9% from the dip in April 2017
- 42 of 51 states showed year-over-year construction employment gains in May 2017; with the strongest gains in Rhode Island and the deepest contractions in DC
- CPI-U, which indicates inflation, fell 0.1% in May 2017, following a 0.2% increase in April 2017