New construction starts decreased in June to $655 billion, a seasonally adjusted annual rate that is 5 percent below May’s rate of $686 billion, according to reports by McGraw-Hill Construction.
The company also commented on the 4-percent decrease in nonresidential building from May to June, although calculations over the last six months show that the category is still up 17 percent compared with the same period in 2005.
As for the commercial sector, hotel construction experienced an increase of 138 percent in June, while contracting for store construction fell 22 percent. Both office construction and warehouse construction had slight drops, as well.
The institutional sector experienced decreases also, as school construction fell 14 percent and health care facility construction dropped 39 percent in June. In other areas, contracts for the construction of transportation terminals increased 141 percent and public construction of buildings and churches also had slight increases at 7 percent and 10 percent.
