Non-Residential goes West

While U.S. housing starts remain weak, both nationally and across all major geographic regions, the news is much more encouraging on the non-residential front, according to Reed Construction Data. The West is leading the country both in terms of non-residential buildings (+25.4 percent) and engineering/civil work (+41.4 percent). The Midwest (+22.5 percent) is in second place with respect to non-residential building starts, followed by the South (+18.3 percent) and the Northeast (+1.6 percent), with only the barest of increases. However, the Northeast (+33.0 percent) is in second place in the engineering category, with the South (+14.8 percent) trailing and the Midwest (-7.0 percent) in decline. Overall, the West has seen a +29.9 percent increase in non-residential starts (building plus civil work) so far this year versus January to September of last year. The South’s gain has been +17.3 percent; the Midwest has climbed +12.6 percent; and the Northeast is up +9.5 percent. In terms of actual dollars, the volume of non-residential starts in the South ($88.0 billion) through three quarters of this year is greater than in the West ($60.6 billion). Current dollar activity levels in the Midwest ($49.0 billion) and Northeast ($35.9 billion) are considerably lower. Your comment?