CSBJ Daily

There was a 20-percent boost in new construction starts from April to May, but new business was off 10 percent from May 2007, according to Reed Construction data.

The results show economic factors might be taking a toll, but rising oil prices could be the building factor.

The first five months of the year saw total residential, non-residential and heavy engineering construction starts, however, down 19 percent from the same period last year. Only the institutional building category showed an increase of 1.2 percent, said Jim Haughey, the organization’s chief economist.

He also interprets the current slump in non-residential construction as a “mid-cycle correction,” rather than the end of a building boom that began in 2004. Haughey also said the commercial construction market is not overbuilt, the housing collapse is over, but a recovery has not yet begun.