World Fence News

WORLD FENCE NEWS • JANUARY 2016 • 85 Be Sure To Stop By Our Exhibit At FenceTech 2016 Booth 102 The Dodge Report continued from page 67 located outside of the New York, NY metropolitan area – a $270 million condominium building in Chicago, a $253 million apartment building in Seattle, two apartment buildings in Dallas valued at $156 million and $130 million respectively, and a $141 million condominium building in San Diego. Murray noted, "While the multi- family strength during much of 2015 has been dominated by major projects in the New York City area, the pattern in October suggests that the multifam- ily expansion is now widening in geo- graphic scope." Through the first 10 months of 2015, the top five metropolitan ar- eas ranked by the dollar amount of multifamily starts were as follows – New York, N.Y, Miami, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C,. and Boston. Multifamily metropolitan areas ranked 6 through 10 were Seattle, Chicago, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston, and San Francisco. Single family housing in October was unchanged from September, and in a broad sense has been essentially flat during the most recent six months after showing steady improvement earlier in 2015. The October pace for single fami- ly housing remained 13% higher than the average monthly amount reported during 2014. By major region, single family housing in October showed gains in the Midwest and Northeast, each up 5%; no change in the South Atlantic; and declines in the West, down 1%, and the South Central, down 5%. Nonbuilding construction in Oc- tober dropped 3% to $130.2 billion (annual rate). The reduced volume was due to a 21% pullback for the electric utility and gas plant category from a fairly healthy amount in Sep- tember (the fifth highest during 2015's first ten months). Even with this retreat, October still saw the start of several major power plant projects, led by a $775 million natural gas-fired power plant in Maryland, a $600 million wind farm in Nebraska, and a $402 million solar power facility in Georgia. The public works categories in October grew 4%, showing further improvement after September's slight 1% gain which followed double-digit declines in July and August. The upward momentum for pub- lic works in October came from a 43% jump for sewer construction, lifted by a $153 million expansion to a sewage treatment plant in Hartford, Conn.; and a similar 42% jump for water sup- ply construction, lifted by a $440 mil- lion pumping station at Lake Mead in Boulder City, N.V. The third environmental public works category, river/harbor develop- ment, slipped 10% in October. The miscellaneous public works category, which includes such diverse project types as site work, mass tran- sit, and pipelines, was unchanged in October from its September amount. The latest month did include the start of one noteworthy mass transit project – $223 million for phase 2 of the Dulles Corridor MetroRail project in northern Virginia. Highway and bridge construction in October receded 5%, not able to regain upward momentum after the slower pace that took hold during July and August. The 10% increase for total con- struction starts on an unadjusted ba- sis during the first 10 months of 2015 was the result of double-digit gains for residential building and nonbuild- ing construction, while nonresidential building was down moderately after registering a substantial 24% hike for the full year 2014. Residential building advanced 15% year-to-date, with multifami- ly housing up 19% and single family housing up 13%. Nonbuilding construction year- to-date climbed 29%, with electric utilities and gas plants up 201% while public works was flat. The substantial year-to-date in- crease for nonbuilding construction has become smaller as 2015 has pro- ceeded. Nonresidential building year-to- date settled back 6%, due mostly to a 31% plunge for the manufacturing building category. The commercial building group year-to-date was steady with its 2014 amount, while the institutional build- ing group was down a modest 3%. By major region, total construc- tion starts during the first 10 months of 2015 showed this performance – the South Central, up 21%; the North- east, up 18%; the South Atlantic, up 9%; the West, up 4%; and the Mid- west, up 1%. Check out some of the best web sites in the fence industry at World Fence News Online! www.worldfencenews.com

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