Increases in the value of residential and infrastructure projects overcame a big drop in the nonresidential category, as new North Carolina contracts totaled nearly $1.2 billion in August, a 4% gain compared to the same period of a year ago.
McGraw-Hill Construction estimated the state’s nonresidential contracts at nearly $287.4 million for August, a 40% drop compared to a year ago.
The nonbuilding category, which includes infrastructure projects, surged by 43%, however, resulting in a monthly total of $263.1 million in new contracts. And the company estimated North Carolina’s residential contracts at $647.6 million, or 32% better than last August.
On a year-to-date basis, North Carolina’s new 2012 construction contracts are estimated at nearly $10.3 billion, or 1% behind 2011’s pace.
Nonresidential is 5% behind last year’s volume, with nearly $3.2 billion in new contracts so far in 2012. Also, despite the August gain, the state’s nonbuilding category, estimated at $2 billion for the year, is now 36% behind the pace of a year ago.
Residential is the lone positive category so far in 2012, with its nearly $5.1-billion total representing a 30% improvement for the year.
