Boston, Richmond, Dallas, and San Francisco districts report pickup in multifamily construction

Reports from the 12 Federal Reserve Districts suggest economic activity continued to expand moderately from November through December 2010, according toa Data DIGest report from the Associated General Contractors of America, Arlington, Va.

Referencing a Jan. 12 Fedreport in the Beige Book, the AGCrelease reports that "Boston, Richmond, Dallas, and San Francisco mentioned pickups in multifamily construction within their districts. ... Commercial construction activity was described as very limited across most districts, with the bulk of new activity coming from projects related to health care, public infrastructure and multifamily housing. ...The outlook for construction was mixed and some Districts noted rising costs as a concern."

The value of new nonresidential construction starts declined 8 percentin December from December 2009, according to a Jan. 11 Reed Construction Data report cited in the release. Building starts fell 5 percent. For the year, starts fell 1.5 percent. Building construction fell 3.2 percentin 2010: commercial -7.8 percent, manufacturing -13 percent, and institutional -0.3 percent.

Although Reed reported a 3.1 percentdrop in retail construction in 2010, recent reports show slight improvement in vacancy and lease rates, plus expansion plans for some chains, according to the release.

On the employment front, employment levels for nonresidential specialty contractors remained unchanged in December at -1.7 percent year-over-year, according to AGC. Overall construction employment fell 16,000 in December to 5,603,000, only 18,000 above the low point last February. Nonresidential building construction employment edged down 0.1 percentin December, but ticked up 0.8 percentyear-over-year.

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