Midwest Construction Starts Lag National Average
Date Posted: June 9, 2022
Posted In: News,
From ConstructionDive: This story is the fourth in a series looking at the health of the construction industry in regions throughout the country.
Total construction starts in the U.S. Midwest region in 2021 climbed 10%, behind the national start growth of 14%, according to a Dodge Data & Analytics construction outlook webinar.
“The Midwest isn’t boasting quite that same fervor [as other regions,]” said David Reaves, senior economist at Dodge, during the webinar. “But it does have some strong performers.”
For example, the Midwest region has shown robust activity in the power and gas plant sector, said Reaves, specifically its solar energy and wind farms.
Other growth opportunities in the Midwest region, which comprises Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin, include warehousing, manufacturing, and highway and bridge projects, according to Dodge.
Nonbuilding
For 2022, Dodge forecasts total nonbuilding construction starts in the Midwest to hit $44.5 billion, a 1% increase from a year ago.
That is largely due to the growth in the power and gas plants subsector, which Dodge forecasts to hit $8.4 billion in 2022, a 49% increase from last year.
There are a number of large projects in the pipeline for later in 2022 responsible for this growth, namely the $1.25 billion phase two and three of the Mammoth Solar project in Indiana, which upon completion will be the largest solar farm in the country. The $1.1 billion Harrison Energy Center in Ohio and a $700 million gas power plant expected to break ground in Wausau, Wisconsin, are also contributing, said Reaves.
But along with solar energy and gas-powered plants, Dodge forecasts wind farms in the region to further accelerate starts in the nonbuilding category, said Reeves.