Dive Brief:
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Non-residential construction starts soared by 30.3% in May after taking a 5.6% hit a month earlier, according to data provider CMD.
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Non-residential construction starts were 2% higher for the first five months of 2015 than they were during those months last year. The value of non-residential construction starts from January to May was $119.5 billion, the report said.
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The largest projects counted among the May starts were the 10,000-square-foot Tesla Motors gigafactory in Nevada, worth a reported $2 billion, and Microsoft’s $1.1 billion new data center in Iowa.
Dive Insight:
Heavy engineering and industrial projects had the highest one-month gain in construction starts, led by road construction and water/sewage work, the report showed.
The building of hospitals continued to decline, while most other commercial and industrial categories “are on flat paths for the most part,” the study said.
