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 ABI remained above 50 (neutral) in April 2018 at 52.0 points. All regions and sectors remained above 50 as well, except Midwest at 49.6.
In May 2018, the HMI slightly increased to 70 with increase in Current sales.The Traffic and Future sales component of HMI stayed the same.
Construction Update
In April 2018, housing permits reflected an annual rate of 1.35M, a 7.7% increase from its year-ago rate with both Single Family and Multi-Family permits showing yearly increases.
Housing starts in April 2018 were 10.5% above their year-ago rate. Single Family was up 7.2% at 894K starts, and Multi-Family was up 18.7% at 393K starts.
662K new Single Family homes were sold in April 2018, 11.6% above its the year-ago rate.
Economic Update
The Engineering & Construction Cost Index (ECCI) in April 2018 continued to show expansion in current pricing with a score of 61.8. The expectation for higher prices in 6 months also remained high.
The Construction Cost Index (CCI) and Building Cost Index (BCI) in May 2018 both showed increases in current pricing with an annual growth of 3.0% and 3.1%, respectively.
