The national construction market managed to remain steady throughout the pandemic but is expected to taper off as the economy cools and there is a continuation of the pre-pandemic economic headwinds.

Forecasts for the next few years are smaller than they were for the last several years. The overall market is set to contract by about 3% this year, as economic uncertainty has made owners reluctant to begin new projects and the availability of credit tightens in certain markets. A notable exception is the advanced manufacturing sector, which continues to grow as many manufacturers move back to the US. Interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve have brought on a slowdown in housing transactions in many cities however in other areas there remains a large unmet demand for quality housing. We expect several trends to shift spending around the market as industry stakeholders (debt and equity lenders, capital investors, developers, and institutional investors) re-diversify their construction investments away from office space to other sectors, and rebalance their portfolios away from construction and real estate. As offices in downtowns across the country remain less than half full, cities are looking at turning unoccupied spaces into mixed-use projects. The Inflation Reduction Act sets aside billions of dollars to revitalize American infrastructure, which will likely cause that sector to grow through the end of the decade.