Mcgraw-Hill Construction Analtyics Construction Contract Value Cumulative Year-To-Date Through August 2007.

Through the first eight months of this year,  the value of total construction starts totaled $425 billion, which was 11% below the to­tal for the same period a year ago, according to McGraw-Hill Construction’s latest report. The huge 25% decline in residential construction overpowered a 3% increase in the nonresidential building market and an 8% increase in nonbuilding work tracked by MHC. “The downturn in residential building has shaped this year’s pattern and with multifamily housing now joining the de­cline, the correction for residential building is still very much in progress,” say Robert Murray, MHC’s chief  economist. “The credit crunch is clearly having a negative im­pact on the residential sector, but to this point in 2007 nonresidential building has experienced only a modest dampening,” he says.