Construction groundbreakings are on a megaproject roller coaster.
Total construction starts fell 24.8% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.34 trillion, according to Dodge Construction Network data released Monday. The drop gives back much of July’s surge in activity levels, when a wave of large data center and manufacturing projects turned dirt.
“After a pop in activity last month, construction starts largely normalized throughout August,” said Sarah Martin, director of economic research at Dodge Construction Network. “Abstracting from the month-to-month volatility, the story remains consistent.”
The story Martin refers to is the strength of data center, semiconductor and energy construction for much of this year. Other sectors, however, are facing less activity due to deep labor shortages and accelerating material prices, she said.
But the growth engines hit a slow patch to end the summer.
Nonresidential starts dropped 32% month to month in August, with manufacturing construction posting the biggest pullback within the category, down 80.8%, according to the report. Office and data center groundbreaking, meanwhile, plunged 31.3% in August.
Institutional construction also slowed during the month, down 18.1% in August month over month, due to weaker education starts, which were down 14.3% during the same period. Healthcare activity, on the other hand, bucked that trend with a 96.1% month-to-month jump following a weak in July, according to the report.
Nonbuilding construction did not fare much better. Starts in the category dropped 26.7% month to month in August. Highway and bridge construction decreased 20.8% during that period.
Residential construction posted a smaller decline, down 5.2% month to month in August.
Despite the dip in all categories, construction starts still outpaced levels at this time last year. Total starts increased 15.2% through the first eight months of 2026, led by a 23.4% and 22.2% gain in nonresidential and nonbuilding construction, respectively. Residential starts decreased 1.8% over the same year-to-period.
Per Dodge, the largest projects to break ground in August included:
- The $3.5 billion Amazon STACK Blanchard State Line data center in Mooringsport, Louisiana.
- The $3.5 billion Steel River energy center in Wilson, Arkansas.
- The $3.2 billion Clarksville hyperscale data center in Clarksville, Arkansas.
- The $2.9 billion Bronx detention facility in Mott Haven, New York.
- The $1.4 billion Bluegrass power generation project in Jeffersonville, Ohio.
- The $1.1 billion 655 Madison Ave. mixed-use tower in New York City.
- The $772 million Heritage Prairie Renewable wind farm in Dwight, Illinois.
- The $244 million The Residences at The Nashville Edition in Nashville, Tennessee.
- The $227 million 350 S. Fifth Ave. mixed-use and affordable housing development in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
