Following a slow first quarter and a seasonally adjusted 15% drop in April, construction starts are on the rise. In May, starts experienced a 10% seasonally adjusted monthly boost, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. The increase brought the yearly construction starts to just 2% below May 2018, an improvement over the 9% drop during the first five months of 2019.
Robert A. Murray, Dodge chief economist and vice president, says the partial government shutdown at the start of the year slowed some public works, “but details on federal appropriations for fiscal 2019 were finalized in February, including a 2% hike for the federal-aid highway program, which has enabled highway and bridge construction starts to show improvement as the current year has progressed.”