At the close of its March 18 meeting, the Federal Reserve Board issued a statement that modestly adjusted monetary policy regarding future interest rate changes. Although the change was slight, it is one that could ultimately impact U.S. construction activity. In its newest statement, the Fed removed language that said it will be “patient” about an upcoming decision to raise interest rates. Removing this language is generally believed to open the door for the Fed to raise rates sometime later this year—possibly as early as June.Ultimately, the Fed’s timing on raising rates will heavily depend on its confidence in the
Having a debt resulting from the violation of the Colorado’s Mechanic’s Lien Trust Fund Statute, commonly known as the Construction Trust Fund Statute, declared non-dischargeable in bankruptcy may be more difficult due to a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The Construction Trust Fund Statute provides that “all funds disbursed to any contractor or subcontractor under any building, construction or remodeling contract or on any construction project shall be held in trust for the payment of the subcontractors, laborer or material suppliers, or laborers who have furnished laborers, materials, services, or labor, who have a lien, or may have a lien,
Phillip A. Washington, general manager of Denver’s Regional Transportation District since 2009, will leave the agency to become CEO of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees the third-largest public transit system in the U.S. Courtesy of RTD Phil Washington, RTD General Manager Washington, a 2014 ENR Newsmaker (ENR, 1/27/14), garnered national attention for managing RTD’s $5.3-billion FasTracks transit construction program, which is building 122 miles of new commuter rail lines and dozens of stations across the Denver metro area.He led the launch of the agency’s first public-private partnership, the $2.2-billion Eagle P3 project, which is building a
As is widely known to the Colorado construction industry, the number of new condominium projects being developed in metropolitan Denver and elsewhere in the state is few. The reason is largely attributable to lawsuits against condo developers, designers and contractors. It is no secret that many new apartment projects are being designed with the prospect that once those lawsuits can no longer be brought, they will be converted into condo units and sold. Under Colorado law, construction defect suits cannot be brought more than six years after substantial construction completion (with few exceptions).In an attempt to solve the problem, a
The February Confidence Index from the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation says that confidence in the equipment finance market is at 66.3, a slight increase from the three-year high level reached by the January index of 66.1. The index is designed to collect leadership data on prevailing business conditions and expectations for the future as reported by key executives from the $903-billion equipment finance sector.Here is a summary of the February survey results:• When asked to assess their business conditions over the next four months, 30.3% of equipment finance executives who responded said they believe business conditions will improve over
According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), existing home sales declined 4.9% over the month in January to a nine-month low of 4.82 million seasonally adjusted annualized units. While the rate on a 30-year mortgage fell to a 20-month low of 3.71%, limited inventory has put upward pressure on home prices.These rising prices, which have outpaced inflation, appear to have tempered sales. While home sales improved 3.2% from January 2014, last year’s sales were hindered by a deep freeze that caused home buying to stall, according to NAR.Sales of previously owned single-family homes declined 5.1% over the month to
Construction spending rose modestly in January from year-earlier levels despite retreating from a six-year high in December, according to a recent analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America. “Construction continues to expand overall but with a lot of variability by month and segment,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “The generally positive trends are obscured by an unreliable estimate for residential improvements which purportedly shows a huge downturn that is inconsistent with other data.”Construction spending in January totaled $971 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, 1.1% lower than in December but 1.8% higher than in January 2014,
The wicked winter weather seen across most of the U.S. in February apparently did little to dampen hiring since U.S. employers added a better-than-expected 295,000 jobs over the month. Labor market gains were fairly broad based with increases in food services, professional and business services, construction, health care, and transportation, according to Dodge Data and Analytics (DDA), formerly called McGraw Hill Construction. There were no revisions to December’s gain of 329,000 workers, although January’s increase of 257,000 was lowered to 239,000.The underlying trend in the labor market is decidedly positive. Over the last year, monthly job gains averaged 266,000—exceeding the
The Associated Builders and Contractors’ Construction Backlog Indicator (CBI) for the fourth quarter of 2014 declined by 0.1 months, or 1%. Despite the quarter-over-quarter decline, the backlog ended the year at 8.7 months, which is still 4.4% higher than one year ago. “Inconsistent growth in the volume of public work continues to suppress the pace of nonresidential construction; however, private construction momentum continues to build,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “With hotel occupancy rising, office vacancy falling and demand for data climbing exponentially, a number of key private segments are positioned for rapid growth in construction spending this year.“There are
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had increased in January, declined in February. The index now stands at 96.4 (1985=100), down from 103.8 in January. The Present Situation Index decreased to 110.2 from 113.9, while the Expectations Index declined to 87.2 from 97.0 in January. Consumers’ appraisal of current conditions was moderately less favorable in February than in January. Those saying business conditions are “good” decreased from 28.2% to 26.0%, however those claiming business conditions are “bad” decreased from 17.3% to 17.0%.Consumers were also somewhat less positive in their assessment of the job market, with the proportion stating jobs
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