FMI, a management consulting and investment banking provider for the engineering and construction industry, dropped its forecast for the U.S. value of construction-put-in-place to end at $909 billion this year. That’s down from $913 billion forecast in the second quarter and from $919 billion forecast in the first quarter.
The good news? FMI sees things improving by 7 percent in 2014 with early forecasts showing moderate growth of 7 percent to $977 billion.
But for the remainder of this year, potential conflicts with Syria, the implementation of the Affordable Healthcare Act (Obamacare) and the downsizing of government and large companies are the three situations FMI has its eye on with concern that they might negatively impact each construction market.
In terms of residential construction, FMI forecasts growth but expects that growth to taper off to 12 percent in 2014. That would mean an increase to $379.6 billion in residential construction for 2014 compared to the forecasted $338.2 billion by the end of this year.
For commercial construction FMI predicts a 5 percent increase in 2014 due to the market’s slow recovery, particularly that of retail bricks and mortar construction.
Despite its healthcare construction forecast slipping 1 percent since last year, FMI expects the market to grow 6 percent in 2014 to $44 billion, noting that predictions in this market are slightly unstable due to business owners being nervous about the costs of Obamacare.
