New construction starts in March climbed 8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $475.7 billion, it was reported by McGraw-Hill Construction, a division of the McGraw-Hill Cos. The gain for total construction in March followed two months of decline and was led by a strong increase for the non-building construction sector (public works and electric utilities).
At the same time, March witnessed slightly reduced activity for both housing and nonresidential building. During the first three months of 2013, total construction starts on an unadjusted basis came in at $100.5 billion, unchanged from the same period a year ago.