Spending Mix Turns Favorable

摘要

Real construction spending after inflation will expand between 2 and 2.5 percent in 2005, a decline from the approximate 4.5-percent gain expected in 2004. Nominal construction spending, including inflation, will fall from an estimated 8.7-percent increase in 2004 to a 4.5-percent gain in 2005. The spending mix, however, turns favorable this year. Residential spending soared 12.5 percent in 2004, buoyed by persistent cheap mortgage rates and large gains in lumber and steel costs. But it will increase only 0.3 percent in 2005 as mortgage rates rise and cost increases ease.