CIRB: First Quarter State Construction Volume Up 10.5 Percent.

Business Editors

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 1, 2003

With first quarter figures in for 2003, California's statewide construction volume totals $15.68 billion, up 10.5 percent from the same period last year. By comparison, first quarter totals in 2002 is down 10.7 percent, the first such three-month decline since 1998.

According to statistical data compiled by the Construction Industry Research Board (CIRB), private building construction, which includes both residential and nonresidential construction, totals $12.01 billion thanks to a whopping 32.6 percent increase in residential building at $8.93 billion for the first three months of 2003. Private nonresidential building activity continued to slide, totaling only $3.07 billion, down 4.6 percent.

Ben Bartolotto, CIRB Director, says most of the decline in nonresidential building is centered in the Bay Area. In the first three months of 2003, the San Francisco Bay region is down 29.1 percent and the Central Coast is down 21.3 percent. "Economic uncertainties will postpone any recovery in the state's nonresidential building sector for this year and until the next," says Bartolotto. He believes a strong recovery is contingent on improvement in the nine-county Bay region, which accounted for the bulk of the statewide nonresidential decline in 2002 as it did in 2001.

Meanwhile, public works construction, which includes both highway-heavy construction and public buildings ((government owned), continues to offer a mixed bag with school and government buildings on the upswing and heavy construction on a downward course. For the first three months of 2003 public works construction totals $3.67 billion, down $562.5 million or 13.3 percent down from the same period last year.

Public building construction is up 54.9 percent in the first three months of 2003 totaling $2.21 billion. CIRB analysts say most of this increase is due to a 62.3 percent increase year to date in school building. Major projects in March include: a $100.6 million portion of the Los Angeles County USC Medical Center Hospital; a $30.2 million UC Student housing and a $42.5 million UC building in Los Angeles; a $30.3 million state building in Contra Costa county; and a $23.0 million federal building in Fresno.

For the month of March, the state's public works activity totals $1.32 billion, up 3.9 percent. However, heavy construction which was down 19.2 percent in March also declined 48.0 percent in the first three months of 2003. Fiscal restraints due to the state budget deficit problems continue to reflect further declines in heavy construction. CIRB is forecasting a 8.2 percent decline in heavy construction in 2003 offsetting a 10.5 percent increase in public buildings construction.