Dive summary:
- Housing is the cheeriest sector of the construction industry, with starts predicted to rise another 19% next year, but David Crowe, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders, looks at 2000-2003 as a baseline to which to return and says he foresees only "slow but study" progress on a long road to full recovery.
- For roads and the rest of the transportation sector, government spending is critical and much scarcer than in the past, and Allison Premo Black of the American Road and Transportation Building Association says she is "hoping to see some growth resume" in 2014, 2015 or 2016.
- Giving an overall view, including commercial construction, Associated General Contractors of America's Ken Simonson says a 5% to 9% growth this year, led by single-family and multifamily housing, suggests "a very gradual upward trend."
From the article:
U.S. construction spending is finally turning up. But a wise contractor won't let the relief of long-overdue resuscitation overheat his perspective on what will inevitably be a tepid 2013 recovery. ...
