Nonresidential jobsite spending declined 0.6% in December after rising steadily for more than three years. The value of nonresidential building project starts fell 25% in January from December after adjusting for the usual seasonal changes. Similarly, civil starts dropped 16%. Nonresidential building and civil contractors laid off 50,000 workers in January.

The $130-140 billion in extra nonresidential construction funds in the economic stimulus legislation will cushion the spending decline within a few months but will be spent too slowly to stop the decline from persisting through most of the year.

Key Indicators of the U.S. Market Environment — February 2009
Commercial and Industrial Construction (Driven mainly by cyclical factors)

	Year Ago	Previous Month or Qtr.	Latest		Level	Recent Trend	Impact on Const.
Commercial
Dow Jones composite REIT, index (Dow Jones)	199	114	W/E Feb 11th	101	Low	Falling
10-Year T-bill rate, % level (FRB)	3.74	2.48	W/E Feb 6th	2.92	Low	Falling
Office rent, 54 metro areas, % change y/y (PPR)	6.5	-2.1	Q4	-3.8	Low	Falling
Office vacancy rate, 54 metro areas, % level (PPR)	15.2	16.8	Q4	17.5	High	Rising
Office employment, % change y/y (P&PR)	0.3	-1.3	Q4	-2.4	High	Falling
Office construction starts ($s), 3-mon. ave. y/y % change (RCD)	-23	-26	Jan	-13	Low	Falling
Hotel room rate, 54 metro areas, % change y/y (PPR)	3.9	2.3	Q4	1.5	High	Falling
Hotel occupancy rate, 54 metro areas, % level (PPR)	66.7	64.0	Q4	62.2	Average	Falling
Airline revenue passenger miles, % change y/y (RCD)	1.6	-6.5	Jan	-7.2	Average	Falling
Real price of gasoline (Nov 08 = 1.00), $s/gal. (U.S. Energy Dept.)	3.03	2.13	Dec	1.68	High	Falling
Hotel construction starts ($s), 3-mon. ave. y/y (RCD)	-11	-2	Jan	-17	High	Falling
Retail rent, 54 metro areas, % change y/y (PPR)	-22.3	-2.7	Q4	-7.4	Average	Falling
Retail vacancy rate, 54 metro areas, % level (PPR)	11.3	14.7	Q4	18.1	Average	Rising
Retail sales, % change y/y (U.S. Census Bureau)	3.9	-9.7	Jan	-9.3	Low	Falling
Consumer confidence index (The Conference Board)	87.3	38.6	Jan	37.7	Low	Steady
Consumer real income growth, % change y/y (U.S. Commerce Dept.)	0.6	-2.3	Dec	3.3	High	Rising
Retail construction starts ($s), 3-mon. ave. y/y (RCD)	0.2	-32.7	Jan	-34.7	Low	Falling
Industrial
Warehouse rent, 54 metro areas, % change y/y (PPR)	1.5	-2.4	Q4	-3.4	Low	Falling
Warehouse vacancy rate, 54 metro areas, % level (PPR)	8.6	8.8	Q4	9.1	Average	Falling
Business inventory, % change y/y (U.S. Census Bureau)	2.9	4.1	Dec	0.9	High	Falling
Business sales, % change y/y (U.S. Census Bureau)	-9.5	-6.2	Dec	-11.8	Low	Falling
Warehouse construction starts ($s), 3-mon. ave. y/y (RCD)	-7.3	-31.4	Jan	4.9	Low	Falling
Capacity utilization rate, % level (FRB)	79.2	71.8	Dec	70.8	Low	Falling
Manufacturing production index (FRB)	115.1	106.1	Dec	103.6	Low	Falling
Goods Exports $ billions (U.S. Commerce Dept.)	101.8	97	Dec	88.7	Low	Falling

Abbreviations: y/y = year over year; WE = week ending; FRB = Federal Reserve Board;
PPR = Property & Portfolio Research; RCD = Reed Construction Data.
Table: Reed Construction Data and Reed Construction Data - CanaData.

Key Indicators of the U.S. Market Environment — February 2009
Institutional and Engineering Construction
(Driven by demographics and government finances, as well as cyclical factors)

	Year Ago	Previous Month or Qtr.	Latest		Level	Recent Trend	Impact on Const.
Institutional
State & local govt. capital spending, $ billions (U.S. Commerce Dept.)	349	362	Q4	368	High	Rising
State & local government tax receipts, $ billions (U.S. Commerce Dept.)	1414	1330	Q4	1308	High	Falling
State budget reserves, % of Exp. (National Governors assn.)	10.5	n/a	FY 08	8.0	High	Falling
Stock market index (Dow Jones Industrial)	12,743	8,281	Feb 9th	7,939	Low	Falling
K-12 enrollment, millions of people (U.S. Education Dept.)	55.762	n/a	2007-08	55.966	Average	Steady
Higher-education enrollment, millions of people (U.S. Education Dept.)	17.598	na/	2007-08	18.264	High	Rising
Hospital receipts, $ billions (U.S. Health & Human Services Dept.)	648.2		2007	696.7	High	Rising
Prison population, % change y/y (Pew Charitable Trust)	4.3	N/A	2007-08	2.5	High	Falling
Heavy/Engineering
Federal highway trust fund, $ billions (U.S. Treasury Dept.)	11,247	10,366	Jan	9,886	Low	Falling
Electric power capacity utilization rate, % level (FRB)	85.5	84.3	Dec	84	High	Falling
Airline revenue passenger miles, billions (RCD) (ann. % change)	1.6	-6.5	Jan	-7.2	Average	Falling
State & local govt. capital spending, $ billions (U.S. Commerce Dept.)	349	362	Q4	368	High	Rising
State and local government tax receipts, $ billions (U.S. Commerce Dept.)	1414	1330	Q4	1308	High	Falling
Heavy contractor employment, 000s (U.S. Labor Dept.)	1002	935	Jan	932	High	Falling
Construction equipment shipments, % change y/y (U.S. Census Bureau)	-16.7	7.1	Dec	-4.1	Average	Falling

Abbreviations: y/y = year over year; WE = week ending;
FRB = Federal Reserve Board; RCD = Reed Construction Data.
Table: Reed Construction Data and Reed Construction Data - CanaData.