CMD: Nonresidential construction starts remain unexpectedly stagnant

Dive Brief:

Slightly fewer nonresidential construction projects broke ground in June than in May, data provider CMD reported on Thursday.
CMD said the $30.3 billion worth of construction starts last month — barely changed from May — showed the industry “treaded water,” which is unusual. Historically, starts gain by around 4.5% between May and June, the report said.
Plus, starts in May made what CMD researchers called an “extraordinary 37.3% leap” over April, largely because of groundbreakings on a few huge commercial projects.

Dive Insight:

Megaprojects don’t start every month, so a slip the month after a couple of them do isn’t unusual.

Still, the number of nonresidential construction starts since the beginning of the year is 1% lower than during the same period in 2014, CMD reported. And when compared with last June, last month’s starts were down by 4.8%.