What's Driving a 25% Increase in Commercial Construction

Housing starts may be hot, but the nonresidential building sector is looking to overtake the market for 2015.

Construction behemoth Gilbane’s newly released Summer 2015 Construction Economics Report forecasts an increase of more than 25% in commercial projects this year, while residential construction is projected to increase less than 14%.

What’s spurring this boom? Educational buildings, healthcare centers, commercial/retail construction and office buildings are the lion’s share of activity. While this is good news for developers and construction firms there is one caveat: the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for the construction industry has been over 100,000 for 26 of the 28 months through June 2015, and has been trending up since 2012. So the need is there, but the workers may not be.

Continue reading this story with a free account

Log in or register
Sign up for more articles like this
Subscribe to Bisnow's National Newsletters
Related Stories

Texas Flips Blue, Putting Data Center Boom On Notice

Democrats Win Congress As America's Data Center Backlash Hits The Ballot Box

U.S. Hotel RevPAR Surges 7% In Q3, But Expect Easing From Here

2.7M SF Campus Trades In Houston's Largest Industrial Sale

Piedmont Realty Exiting Houston Market With Office Dispositions

Stock Sell-Off, Bond Market Jitters Signal Financing Trouble For AI Data Centers

Starwood Launches Residential Land JV Targeting $1B In Annual Originations

RealPage Antitrust Case Ends With Nearly $360M In Settlements For Renters

ZOM Living Entity Files For Bankruptcy To Fund Fight To Overturn $323M Judgment

How Colliers Engineering Helped A Struggling Dam Move To The Head Of The Class

Real Estate's Bottom Rung Is Getting Harder To Reach — And Now It Wants AI Skills

Nord Group's Lawyer Moves To Quit, Says Entities Can't Pay Him