According to the latest version of the AIA's Consensus Construction Forecast Panel—a group of economic forecasters assembled by the organization—spending in nonresidential construction is expected to increase through 2019. This prediction comes as a relief to those in the industry who speculated that the construction industry might enter another recession sometime over the next year.
“At the halfway point of the year, this panel is even more optimistic,” said AIA chief economist Kermit Baker, Hon. AIA, in a press release. “Their forecasts have been marked up to 4.7 percent growth in spending for this year and an additional 4.0 percent in 2019. If these projections materialize, by the end of next year the industry will have seen nine years of consecutive growth, and total spending on nonresidential buildings will be 5 percent greater—ignoring inflationary adjustments—than the last market peak of 2008.”
Members of the Consensus Construction Forecast panel are Dodge Data & Analytics; Wells Fargo Securities, LLC; IHS Economics; Moody’s Economy.com; ConstructConnect; Associated Builders & Contractors; and FMI.
