Total nonresidential building activity for the month of August was down nearly 25 percent, compared to July. Starts on a year-to-year basis decreased slightly more than 35 percent.

Nonresidential construction starts in August dropped substantially in both of its monthly and yearly numbers, according to Construction Market Data Group. Total nonresidential building activity, excluding residential, declined 24.7 percent for the month, compared to July, and 35.1 percent, compared to August 2014. Starts are also down 1.8 percent year-to-date, compared to the same January-to-August time frame of last year. Total construction employment increased by 3,000 jobs in August, after increasing by 7,000 in July. The year-to-year jump has been 219,000 jobs. About 113,000 jobs have been added year-to-date. CMD breaks down nonresidential data into five categories, with several subcategories underneath each of those. The major sectors are commercial, industrial, institutional, miscellaneous and heavy engineering. In July-to-August data: The biggest losses were seen in heavy engineering, down 62.1 percent, and industrial, which declined almost 74 percent. Commercial lost 1 percent, and miscellaneous declined 3.3 percent. Institutional was the only sector that improved, climbing 2 percent.

Within the commercial group, parking garages advanced 270.4 percent; hotels-motels improved 153.6 percent; private offices gained 87.2 percent; and retail was up 35.4 percent. But warehouses were down 64 percent, and miscellaneous commercial shed 25 percent.

Under the institutional category, military facilities gained 82.7 percent, and libraries-museums increased 95.7 percent. But police, courthouse and prison facilities declined 57.4 percent. All heavy engineering subcategories posted losses. Airports were down 90.8 percent; dams-marine facilities lost 71.3 percent; and miscellaneous civil projects dropped 75.1 percent. Roads-highways shed 63.4 percent.

In a comparison of year-to-year numbers:
Industrial shed nearly 78 percent, and heavy engineering dropped 67.5 percent. Commercial was down nearly 13 percent, and institutional lost 12.7 percent. Miscellaneous shed 16.4 percent.

Under the commercial group, parking garages improved 105.6 percent, but laboratories dropped 52.7 percent. Miscellaneous commercial declined 54.4 percent. Retail gained 12.5 percent.

Within institutional, libraries-museums lost 38.7 percent, and military sites shed almost 40 percent. But miscellaneous government jumped 64.6 percent.

All heavy engineering subgroups posted losses. Airports were down 96.1 percent; dams-marine facilities declined 83.4 percent; and miscellaneous civil projects shed 82.1 percent. Roads-highways were down 68.6 percent.

In year-to-date (January to August 2015) statistics:
Heavy engineering lost 6.3 percent; miscellaneous gained 0.7 percent; institutional declined 3.5 percent; industrial improved 46.6 percent; and commercial shed 0.7 percent.

Within commercial, the retail segment lost 1.3 percent; parking garages dropped nearly 50 percent; private offices shed 24.2 percent; and laboratories declined 26.8 percent. Warehouses gained 31.1 percent, and miscellaneous commercial advanced 21.4 percent.

Under institutional, military facilities lost 57.3 percent, while police, courthouse and prison facilities improved 69.4 percent. The miscellaneous subcategory climbed 20.5 percent, while hospitals-clinics were down 12.1 percent.

In heavy engineering, airports declined 43.1 percent; and miscellaneous civil was down 14.6 percent. Dams-marine facilities gained 13.1 percent.

Construction Market Date Group website link: https://www.cmdgroup.com/market-intelligence/articles/cmds-august-starts-suffer-engineering-collapse/