Construction Insider is a weekly roundup of the latest news and insights in construction.
Builder confidence at steady value in June
Builder sentiment regarding the newly built single-family home market has dipped by two points in June, but overall builder confidence has been at a solid, steady rate in the last five months. FCP
- The builder confidence index on single-family homes is charted at 64 in June, a two-point deficit from last month, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
- The slight dip could be due to high home prices relative to lower incomes, the excessive regulations in the housing sector, the shortage of skilled labor, says the NAHB report.
- All Housing Market Indices slightly fell in June, including the value for market expectations and projected buyer traffic.
Megaprojects growing exponentially in the US
A study from FMI Corp. reported a 33% value for megaproject construction starts in 2018, a significant increase from a mere 3% in 2013. ENR
- Around 300 megaprojects have been awarded in the US since 2012, totalling to about $718 billion worth of investment, according to the FMI Study.
- The FMI study also forecasts a 37% rise in the average size of a US megaproject, from $2.1 billion to $2.9billion, between 2019 and 2023.
- The main driver behind the rise in megaprojects is the need to replace aging infrastructure, and also the fact the most companies are now bigger in size which require building expansion.
- Texas, New York, and California are the top three states that represent the highest growth for planned megaproject spending in the coming years.
Construction leader pushes for protection of immigrant workers
CEO Stephen E. Sandherr of the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) urged the Senate in a statement to pass the legislation protecting the legal status of immigrant construction workers. AGC
- Over 100,000 construction workers would benefit from the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019, which the Congress recently approved.
- The legal measure seeks to offer conditional green cards and extend the validity of work authorizations to qualified individuals, many of which work in the construction sector.
- “Without these workers construction projects in many parts of the country… are likely to be significantly disrupted,” said Sandherr in the statement.