Heavy engineering (non-building) construction spending increased 0.7% on a seasonally adjusted (SA) basis in September after falling 1.6% in August. On a year-to-date not seasonally adjusted (NSA) basis, heavy engineering spending was up 8.6% from a year ago.
Highway and water and sewer construction spending were the only two major heavy engineering spending categories to decrease in September, down 1.6% and 0.6%, respectively. Despite three consecutive monthly declines, highway construction spending was 2.9% higher on a year-to-date basis than last year. Two other major categories were up on a year-to-date basis, transportation (+3.4) and power (+30.3).
U.S. Heavy Engineering (Non-Building) Construction | ||||||||
| Monthly Figures (1) (latest actual values) |
3-Month Moving Average | Year-to-Date (NSA) | ||||||
| Jul-12 | Aug-12 | Sep-12 | Jul-12 | Aug-12 | Sep-12 | Jan-11 to Sep-11 |
Jan-12 to Sep-12 |
|
| Transportation | 37.9 | 37.6 | 38.5 | 37.6 | 37.7 | 38.0 | 26.0 | 26.9 |
| Month-over-Month % Change |
0.7% | -0.7% | 2.4% | 2.6% | 0.3% | 0.8% | ||
| Year-over-year % Change (NSA) |
11.7% | 5.6% | 10.2% | -9.7% | 3.4% | |||
| Communication | 17.3 | 16.7 | 17.8 | 17.2 | 17.2 | 17.3 | 12.8 | 12.4 |
| -0.6% | -3.4% | 6.4% | 0.8% | -0.3% | 0.7% | |||
| 0.3% | -4.8% | -8.0% | 0.2% | -3.2% | ||||
| Power | 92.0 | 88.5 | 89.7 | 91.0 | 89.8 | 90.1 | 51.7 | 67.3 |
| 3.5% | -3.7% | 1.3% | -0.8% | -1.3% | 0.3% | |||
| 22.8% | 16.5% | 16.5% | -3.0% | 30.3% | ||||
| Highway | 80.9 | 79.8 | 78.5 | 81.2 | 81.0 | 79.7 | 57.9 | 59.6 |
| -1.7% | -1.4% | -1.6% | 0.6% | -0.2% | -1.5% | |||
| 8.3% | 2.3% | -5.2% | -5.2% | 2.9% | ||||
| Water and Sewer | 33.5 | 34.2 | 34.0 | 34.5 | 34.0 | 33.9 | 27.2 | 26.2 |
| -2.2% | 2.1% | -0.6% | -2.2% | -1.4% | -0.3% | |||
| -8.9% | -6.9% | -6.8% | -11.8% | -3.9% | ||||
| Conservation & Development | 5.8 | 6.2 | 6.4 | 6.1 | 6.0 | 6.2 | 5.7 | 4.6 |
| -4.0% | 6.7% | 2.8% | -1.4% | -1.1% | 1.8% | |||
| -17.3% | -19.3% | -13.5% | 7.1% | -19.0% | ||||
| Total (2) | 267.4 | 263.1 | 265.0 | 267.6 | 265.7 | 265.2 | 181.3 | 197.0 |
| 0.3% | -1.6% | 0.7% | 0.0% | -0.7% | -0.2% | |||
| 9.1% | 4.2% | 1.7% | -5.6% | 8.6% | ||||
(1) Monthly figures are seasonally adjusted at annual rates (SAAR figures). | ||||||||
Heavy engineering construction continues to struggle with the challenge of reduced government funding. Some of the slack is being picked up by public/private partnerships. Also, businesses are involved in some heavy construction activity (e.g., connected to extraction of oil and natural gas through fracking). The Reed forecast for heavy engineering construction spending is an increase of 7.2% in 2012, 4.7% 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 | 36.8 | 41.3 | 45.1 |
| Year-over-year % Change | 3.5% | 4.5% | -9.1% | 5.4% | 12.3% | 9.2% |
| Communication | 19.8 | 17.7 | 17.5 | 17.3 | 19.1 | 20.4 |
| -25.4% | -10.2% | -1.1% | -1.2% | 10.1% | 7.0% | |
| Power | 88.9 | 77.9 | 74.0 | 92.4 | 94.2 | 101.8 |
| 9.6% | -12.3% | -5.1% | 24.9% | 2.0% | 8.0% | |
| Highway | 82.2 | 82.5 | 78.9 | 79.5 | 83.7 | 87.7 |
| 1.0% | 0.4% | -4.4% | 0.8% | 5.3% | 4.8% | |
| Water and Sewer | 40.3 | 41.3 | 36.8 | 35.1 | 35.0 | 36.7 |
| -5.1% | 2.5% | -11.0% | -4.5% | -0.2% | 4.7% | |
| Conservation & Development | 5.8 | 7.2 | 7.4 | 6.2 | 6.4 | 6.7 |
| 9.9% | 24.7% | 2.8% | -16.0% | 3.8% | 4.8% | |
| Total (1) | 273.5 | 265.0 | 249.4 | 267.3 | 279.8 | 298.4 |
| 0.5% | -3.1% | -5.9% | 7.2% | 4.7% | 6.7% | |
(1) Total may not equal the sum of its components due to rounding. | ||||||
Read more forecasts from Reed Construction Data:
Construction Spending Edges Up in September
Nonresidential Building Construction Spending Down in September
New Residential Construction Spending Advances for the Sixth Consecutive Month
