Statewide construction activity during the year’s first eight months is up an annualized 11.4 percent to $52.18 billion, with Southern California as the scene of most privately funded projects, an industry tracker said last week.
Except for government building projects, all sectors are up for the year to date from 2003 levels, the Burbank-based Construction Industry Research Board reported.
Through August, private building activity totaled $40.38 billion, up 14.7 percent from the first eight months of 2003. Of the total, nonresidential building — commercial, retail and industrial projects — accounted for $10.44 billion, up 12 percent or $1.12 billion from last year.
Eighty percent of those projects are located in Southern California, the board said. The biggest is a $96 million, 12-story office building in Century City.
The dollar amount represents construction costs like wages and materials. It does not include land acquisition.
Construction dollar volume will likely end this year up 7 percent from 2003, on track with the board’s earlier expectation. Between 2000 and 2003, activity fell about 30 percent. “We had very little going on in that period, so it’s a function of time and an improving economy,” Bartolotto said of the increase this year.
Heavy construction in the first eight months totaled $5.54 billion, up 8.9 percent or $452.6 million more than in the same period last year.
August’s volume totaled $6.64 billion, up 5.2 percent from July and up 10.4 percent from a year ago. All sectors posted increases last month.
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Private projects in August accounted for $5.37 billion, up 6 percent from July and 21.3 percent from a year earlier.
The majority of new housing construction continues to be in the Inland Empire counties of Riverside and San Bernardino. Those counties also posted gains of 40 percent or better in industrial and commercial activity this year, indicating more jobs are in the pipeline.
“Riverside and San Bernardino are really the fast-growth areas, which is counter to their history,” Bartolotto said.
For example, office-building activity is up 90 percent and industrial activity is up 44.4 percent so far this year in San Bernardino County. Riverside County’s office construction is up 56 percent, and industrial building up 59 percent.
In contrast, Los Angeles County’s industrial construction volume is down 36 percent, but office construction is up 89.5 percent. The decline in Los Angeles-area industrial activity reflects a lack of available land, said Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., a nonprofit business advocacy group.