Total construction starts in the final month of 2019 dropped 21% from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $800.4 billion, according to recent data released by Dodge Data & Analytics.
The sharp decline was largely a response to hefty gains posted in November’s utility and manufacturing sectors. When removing the influence of these two very volatile sectors, total construction starts only fell 3% in December. By major sector, nonresidential building starts fell 20% in December, while nonbuilding starts dropped 41%, and residential starts lost 4% over the month.
The pullback in December pushed the Dodge Index down to 169 (2000=100) compared to the 213 posted in November, and just below the 12-month average of 174.