The institutional building group in June settled back 9%, as all the structure types except educational facilities experienced weaker activity. Health care facilities dropped 10% from its elevated May pace, although June did see groundbreaking for several large health care projects such as a $520-million hospital expansion in Houston, a $230-million hospital in Lakeland, Fla., and a $220-million hospital in Fremont, Calif.

The amusement-related category dropped 21%, yet June did see the start of such projects as a $102-million sports arena upgrade in San Antonio, Texas, and a $100-million expansion to the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif.

Decreased activity in June was also reported for public buildings (courthouses and detention facilities), down 26%; churches, down 30%; and transportation terminals, down 66%. The educational facilities category in June increased 10%, supported by the start of these projects—the $345-million Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., a $300-million research facility at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., and a $190-million science and health professions facility at Hunter College in New York City.

There were also several large high school construction projects that reached groundbreaking in June, located in Maple Valley, Wash. ($110 million), Portland, ore. ($97 million), and Winnetka, Ill. ($89 million).

At the six-month mark of 2015, nonresidential building increased 4% compared to a year ago. The commercial building group held steady with its year ago pace, aided by a substantial 41% increase for hotel construction but dampened by declines for stores, down 3%; office buildings, down 8%; and warehouses, down 12%.

The year-to-date decline for office buildings came as the result of the comparison to the first half of 2014, which included $2.3 billion for the office portion of the $2.5-billion Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. If the Apple headquarters project is excluded, the office-building category in the first half of 2015 would be up 12%.

Over the January-June period of 2015, the top five office markets ranked by dollar amount of new construction starts were: New York City, Seattle, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Denver. Office markets ranked 6 through 10 were: Austin, Texas; Portland, Ore.; Houston: Charlotte, N.C.: and Dallas-Ft. Worth.

The manufacturing plant category in the first six months of 2015 was up 5% compared to last year, helped by the start of several large petrochemical plants, similar to what took place during 2014. Going forward, the volume of petrochemical plant projects is expected to drop back during the second half of 2015.

The institutional building group in the first half of 2015 was up 6% compared to last year, with educational facilities registering a 5% gain.  Other year-to-date increases were reported for transportation terminals, up 58%; amusement-related projects, up 11%; and churches, up 3%.  Year-to-date declines were reported for healthcare facilities, down 1%; and public buildings, down 17%.

Residential Building

Residential building in June grew 2% to $267.1 billion (annual rate), after slipping 2% in May. Multifamily housing provided the upward push, rising 8%, showing further growth on top of the gains reported earlier in the year.  There were eight multifamily projects valued each at $100 million or greater that reached groundbreaking during June, led by $218 million for the multifamily portion of the $250-million Ballpark Village in San Diego, a $217-million multifamily complex in Miami and $191 million for the multifamily portion of a $250-million, mixed-use building in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Single-family housing in June remained at the dollar amount reported for May, as the faint signs of an upward trend are still subject to hesitation on a month-to-month basis.

For the first six months of 2015, residential building in dollar terms was up 17% from the same period a year ago, showing some improvement from the 10% annual gain reported for 2014.

Multifamily housing registered a year-to-date increase of 29%, maintaining the upward movement that’s been present over the past five years. The top five multifamily markets, ranked by the dollar amount of new construction starts in the first half of 2015, were: New York City, Miami, Washington,  D.C., Boston and Los Angeles. Multifamily markets ranked six through 10 were: Seattle, Denver, Chicago, Houston and Atlanta.

Single-family housing year-to-date was up 13%, reflecting both the comparison to the lackluster volume in the first half of 2014 and the slight yet uneven improvement that emerged in the second half of 2014 and has carried over into 2015. By major region, the pattern for single-family housing during the first half of 2015 compared to last year was the following—the West, up 21%; the South Atlantic, up 17%; the South Central, up 10%; the Midwest, up 6%; and the Northeast, down 6%.

The 23% gain for total construction starts at the U.S. level during the first six months of 2015 came from a varied pattern by geography. The strongest year-to-date gain was reported in the South Central region, up 57%, which reflected the boost coming from the massive gas terminal projects that were entered as construction starts, plus several large petrochemical plants.

The next strongest year-to-date gain was reported in the Northeast, up 27%, with support coming from further increases for multifamily housing and office buildings in the New York City metropolitan area. The remaining three regions showed the following year-to-date growth for total construction starts—the South Atlantic, up 15%; the West, up 6%; and the Midwest, up 5%.