Economy Watch: More Buildings Enter Planning Stage in May

By D.C. Stribling

Source: Dodge Data & Analytics Dodge Momentum Index, May 2018

The Dodge Momentum Index inched upward in May, moving 1.8 percent higher to 167.8 (2000 = 100) from the revised April reading of 164.9, Dodge Data & Analytics reported on Thursday, June 7. The index is a monthly measure of the first report for nonresidential building projects in planning, which typically lead construction spending for such buildings by about a year.

May’s gain was the result of a 4.7 percent increase by the commercial component of the Momentum Index, while the institutional component dropped 2.4 percent. The index posted solid gains during the first five months of 2018, according to Dodge, rising 19 percent from the same period of 2017 and reaching a level not seen since mid-2008.

It has been nearly seven years since the Momentum Index hit bottom, which was in July 2011, but it has yet to eclipse its previous peak set in December 2007, the company said. Even so, the recent gains for the index suggest that construction spending for nonresidential buildings should remain healthy through the rest of 2018.

In May, 16 projects each with a value of $100 million or more entered planning. The two leading commercial projects were a $310 million mixed-use complex in Newark, NJ, and the $300 million second phase of Nvidia’s headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif. The leading institutional projects were the $300 million Milwaukee County safety building in Milwaukee and the $300 million Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital expansion in Fort Worth.