Powered by an expansion in "Big Box" stores, the retail construction market is expected to post a respectable gain of 3% this year, with $24 billion in new starts, according to McGraw-Hill Construction Analytics. This would follow a 4% increase in 2005. However, the increase in dollar value masks a decline in actual per-square-footage being built.
This year's softening in the housing market is already being felt in retail construction, which in a large part is driven by home building. MHCA predicts the slump in housing will lead to the physical volume of the retail market shrinking 2%, to 300 million sq ft this year. (ENR and MHCA are units of the McGraw-Hill Cos.)