Nonresidential Market Destined for Another Year of Decline

According to its “Construction Outlook: Second Quarter 2010 Report,” FMI Corp., Raleigh, N.C., construction industry professionals should brace themselves for another year of decline in the nonresidential construction sector and expect to see double-digit declines in 2010. While there have been positive signs for the general economy, the outlook for put-in-place construction for 2010 unfortunately remains bleak, says the report. Total construction this year will be down 5% after declining in 2009. Although residential construction is expected to begin recovering in 2010, nonresidential construction will decline 16% in 2010.

Despite this gloomy forecast, a few bright spots were highlighted in the report, including: conservation and development construction will contribute to a positive climb in the nonbuilding segment, partly due to the Gulf oil spill cleanup; water and wastewater construction should see an increase now that stimulus money has been allocated; and small job gains in a number of component industries were offset by job losses in electronic instruments and furniture production.