Graph: © McGraw-Hill

Non-residential building in July increased 3%, moving up for the third straight month after a very weak April, according to McGraw-Hill Construction. Despite the recent increase, the non-residential building market through the first seven months of this year is still 14% below the same period in 2009. Almost all of the July increase in non-residential building was the result of $1.3 billion related to the resumption of work on World Trade Center Tower Three in lower Manhattan, New York City. This project originally was entered as a construction start in 2008 but was removed from the statistics—except for $115 million in sitework—when the project was put on hold. Overall, total construction through the first seven months of this year was $238 billion, which was 4% below the same period a year ago, according to MHC.