Apr 12 2010
FMI, management consultants and investment bankers for the construction industry, releases the Construction Outlook: First Quarter 2010 Report.
Unfortunately, the outlook for put in place construction for 2010 remains bleak. Total construction in 2010 will be down after declining in 2009. Residential construction is expected to begin recovering in 2010. Nonresidential construction will continue to decline in 2010. Nonbuilding construction will continue to be a positive contributor, increasing another 4% in 2010.
The construction industry should prepare for another year of decline in nonresidential construction. Construction lost 64,000 more jobs in February. It was the 31st consecutive month of significant job losses, bringing the construction unemployment rate to 27.1%. An increase in residential construction in 2010 could begin to turn the employment situation, but it is unlikely that it would do much to offset the losses from nonresidential construction.
Report highlights include:
- Residential construction is expected to begin to recover in 2010, with a slight increase in residential improvement construction.
- Transportation and public safety construction will likely see growth, the only nonresidential segments to do so. Conversely, severe declines will affect the lodging, office and commercial segments.
- The nonbuilding sector will remain positive again in 2010.
- Job losses continue in construction and information, while temporary help services have continued to add jobs in February. Employment in manufacturing did remain relatively stable in February.
Heather Jones, a construction economist for FMI’s Research Services Group, is responsible for design, management and performance of primary and secondary market research projects and related research activities, including economic analysis and modeling, construction market forecasting and database management. Her particular expertise is in the areas of market sizing and modeling, competitive analysis, sales and market performance evaluations, buying practices and trend analysis.
Source: http://www.fminet.com