Construction starts fall 2% in 2011 after 1% gain, McGraw-Hill reports

McGraw-Hill Construction tracks the dollar value of construction starts in the United States and reports monthly. The recent December report included full-year 2011 figures, as shown in the table below:

McGraw-Hill noted that the dollar value of starts in 2010 rose 1% over the 2009 total. So, for all practical purposes, the company’s starts data—which provides a bit of a look ahead into the construction industry’s near-term future—has been flat for three years.