Heavy engineering (non-building) construction spending inched up 0.2% on a seasonally adjusted (SA) basis in October after advancing a more solid 1.1% in September. On a year-to-date not seasonally adjusted (NSA) basis, heavy engineering spending increased 8.5% over the same period in 2011.
Three of the six major heavy engineering spending categories increased in October. Transportation had the strongest increase, catapulting 5.3% higher following a robust 2.6% advance the previous month, and on a year-to-date basis, was up 6.2% from a year ago. Power construction spending rose 1.6%, up a bit from September’s 1.3% increase, but 28.8% higher on a year-to-date basis. Water and sewer construction spending moved up a modest 0.5%, its third consecutive monthly increase, but was down 3.7% on a year-to-date basis.
U.S. Heavy Engineering (Non-Building) Construction | ||||||||
| Monthly Figures (1) (latest actual values) |
3-Month Moving Average | Year-to-Date (NSA) | ||||||
| Aug-12 | Sep-12 | Oct-12 | Aug-12 | Sep-12 | Oct-12 | Jan-11 to Oct-11 |
Jan-12 to Oct-12 |
|
| Transportation | 38.4 | 39.3 | 41.4 | 38.0 | 38.5 | 39.7 | 29.1 | 30.8 |
| Month-over-Month % Change |
1.3% | 2.6% | 5.3% | 1.0% | 1.5% | 3.1% | ||
| Year-over-year % Change (NSA) |
7.6% | 13.3% | 23.4% | -9.7% | 6.2% | |||
| Communication | 16.7 | 17.8 | 16.6 | 17.2 | 17.3 | 17.1 | 14.3 | 13.9 |
| -3.5% | 6.6% | -6.9% | -0.4% | 0.8% | -1.4% | |||
| -4.8% | -8.0% | 3.8% | -0.1% | -2.5% | ||||
| Power | 89.4 | 90.6 | 92.0 | 90.1 | 90.6 | 90.7 | 59.0 | 76.0 |
| -2.8% | 1.3% | 1.6% | -1.0% | 0.6% | 0.0% | |||
| 18.3% | 19.4% | 14.6% | -3.5% | 28.8% | ||||
| Highway | 79.9 | 78.7 | 76.9 | 81.0 | 79.8 | 78.5 | 66.5 | 67.8 |
| -1.3% | -1.4% | -2.3% | -0.2% | -1.5% | -1.7% | |||
| 1.4% | -6.3% | -2.1% | -5.1% | 2.0% | ||||
| Water and Sewer | 34.3 | 34.9 | 35.1 | 34.0 | 34.2 | 34.7 | 30.7 | 29.5 |
| 2.4% | 1.6% | 0.5% | -1.3% | 0.6% | 1.5% | |||
| -6.8% | -4.1% | -5.4% | -11.8% | -3.7% | ||||
| Conservation & Development | 6.3 | 6.6 | 6.5 | 6.1 | 6.3 | 6.5 | 6.3 | 5.2 |
| 7.8% | 5.3% | -1.5% | -0.8% | 3.0% | 3.7% | |||
| -18.9% | -10.0% | -10.1% | 6.5% | -17.7% | ||||
| Total (2) | 265.0 | 268.0 | 268.5 | 266.3 | 266.8 | 267.1 | 205.8 | 223.3 |
| -0.9% | 1.1% | 0.2% | -0.5% | 0.2% | 0.1% | |||
| 4.6% | 2.9% | 5.8% | -5.8% | 8.5% | ||||
(1) Monthly figures are seasonally adjusted at annual rates (SAAR figures). | ||||||||
Heavy engineering construction continues to contend with limited government funding for new projects. In some cases, public-private partnerships have been created to bridge the gap in funding. At the same time, companies engage in some heavy construction projects on their own without government funding (power and communication are two major areas of spending). The Reed forecast for heavy engineering construction spending is an increase of 7.7% in 2012, 5.4% in 2013, and 6.7% in 2014.
U.S. Heavy Engineering (Non-Building) Construction | ||||||
| Actual | Forecast | |||||
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |
| Transportation | 36.7 | 38.3 | 34.9 | 37.4 | 43.6 | 47.6 |
| Year-over-year % Change | 3.5% | 4.5% | -9.1% | 7.4% | 16.4% | 9.2% |
| Communication | 19.8 | 17.7 | 17.5 | 17.2 | 18.7 | 20.0 |
| -25.4% | -10.2% | -1.1% | -1.8% | 8.4% | 7.0% | |
| Power | 88.9 | 77.9 | 74.0 | 92.9 | 95.7 | 103.4 |
| 9.6% | -12.3% | -5.1% | 25.6% | 3.0% | 8.0% | |
| Highway | 82.2 | 82.5 | 78.9 | 79.2 | 82.2 | 86.2 |
| 1.0% | 0.4% | -4.4% | 0.4% | 3.8% | 4.8% | |
| Water and Sewer | 40.3 | 41.3 | 36.8 | 35.5 | 36.2 | 38.0 |
| -5.1% | 2.5% | -11.0% | -3.5% | 2.1% | 4.8% | |
| Conservation & Development | 5.8 | 7.2 | 7.4 | 6.3 | 6.7 | 7.0 |
| 9.9% | 24.7% | 2.8% | -14.9% | 6.1% | 4.8% | |
| Total (1) | 273.5 | 265.0 | 249.4 | 268.5 | 283.1 | 302.1 |
| 0.5% | -3.1% | -5.9% | 7.7% | 5.4% | 6.7% | |
(1) Total may not equal the sum of its components due to rounding. | ||||||
Read more forecasts from Reed Construction Data:
Construction Spending Gains Strength in October
Nonresidential Building Construction Spending Rebounds in October
New Residential Construction Spending Up for the Seventh Consecutive Month
