Nonresidential CONSTRUCTION STAYS AFLOAT--The housing market sinks commercial construction as other segments look for shore

摘要

Since the housing market began its long swan dive into troubled waters, causing the residential construction market to sink to distressing lows, nonresidential construction initially proved to be a rather buoyant counterpart in the building industry. Even though there was modestly strong nonresidential building this year, 2009 looks to be more mixed as certain seg-ments, particularly commercial building, tumble while others endure dropping demand and higher costs. "As shown by construction starts data, we're seeing emerging weakness for commercial building coming as a result of tighter credit conditions, the weak economy and the response to higher materials costs," says Robert A. Murray, vice president of economic affairs for McGraw-Hill Construction, New York. "There will also be a delayed and diffused response by the institutional sector to this difficult environment over the next year or so."