Both the public buildings category and churches rebounded from very weak activity in June, posting respective gains of 58% and 32%. The public buildings category was supported by the July start of a $275-million detention center in Indio, Calif.

Residential Building

Residential building, at $288.5 billion (annual rate), advanced 4% in July.  Similar to recent months, the main residential push in July came from multifamily housing, which surged 21%. July included the start of 16 multifamily projects valued each at $100 million or more, led by the following: a $468-million apartment building in Long Island City, N.Y.; a $445-million condominium building in New York City; and a $358-million multifamily building in Miami.

At the seven-month point of 2015, the top five metropolitan markets ranked by the dollar volume of multifamily starts, with the year-to-date percent change, were: New York City, up 79%; Miami, up 65%; Washington, D.C., up 6%; Los Angeles, down 11%; and Boston, up 92%.

Single-family housing in July slipped back 4%, continuing its up-and-down pattern around a modestly rising trend. The year-to-date dollar amount of single-family starts at the U.S. level was up 14%, due to this pattern by major region—he West, up 22%; the South Atlantic, up 19%; the South Central, up 10%; the Midwest, up 6%; and the Northeast, down 3%.

Nonbuilding Construction

Nonbuilding construction in July dropped 9% to $146.9 billion (annual rate).  The decline came as the result of diminished activity for most of the public works categories, which fell 13% as a group.

Highway and bridge construction retreated 19% in July, making it three out of the past four months that weaker activity has been reported, which follows the surprisingly strong pace in early 2015.

“The uncertainty arising from the expiring extension of the surface transportation legislation on July 31, along with the depleted Highway Trust Fund, likely played some role in July’s pullback for highway and bridge construction,” Murray said.

Despite the decline, there were several large highway and bridge projects entered as July construction starts, including the $429-million Southern Ohio Veterans Memorial Highway in Portsmouth, Ohio; the $264-million Belt Shore Parkway Mill Basin Bridge replacement in Brooklyn, N.Y.; and the $187-million Interstate 85 widening and reconstruction in North Carolina.  The environmental public works categories in July all reported a diminished volume of construction starts, as follows—river/harbor development, down 20%; water supply construction, down 23%; and sewer construction, down 27%.

The “miscellaneous public works” category (which includes such diverse project types as sitework, pipelines and mass transit), ran counter in July with a 29% gain. Large miscellaneous public works projects that reached the construction start stage in July included the $700-million expansion of the Creole Trail natural gas pipeline in Louisiana, a $495-million oil pipeline replacement in Illinois and Indiana, and a $195-million Northeast Rail Corridor project in Connecticut.

The electric utility and gas plant category in July increased 9%, due to the start of several large power plant projects—an $850-million, natural gas-fired power plant in Maryland, a $420-million wind farm in Maine, a $337-million wind farm in Texas, and a $191-million solar power facility in Colorado.

The 19% advance for total construction starts on an unadjusted basis during the first seven months of 2015 was due to double-digit gains for residential building and nonbuilding construction while nonresidential building slipped slightly.

Residential building year-to-date was up 19%, as a 34% jump by multifamily housing joined the 14% rise by single-family housing.  Nonbuilding construction year-to-date soared 51%, with electric utilities and gas plants up 268% while public works registered a 12% gain. As 2015 is progressing, the huge year-to-date increase for nonbuilding construction is becoming smaller.

Nonresidential building year-to-date receded 1%, reflecting the downward pull from a 22% decline for the manufacturing building category, while institutional building was up 6% and commercial building was up 1%.

By geography, total construction starts during the January-July period of 2015 performed as follows—the South Central, up 39%; the Northeast, up 29%; the South Atlantic, up 17%; the West, up 6%; and the Midwest, up 4%.