Construction activity will feel impact of September 11

The events of September 11 will leave their mark on the construction industry according to the CMD’s North American Construction Forecast given in October. The economists say that partly as a result of the terrorist attacks and aftermath, construction activity will decline over 6% next year in North America, but should revive in 2003.
Alex Carrick of CMD Group/CanaData forecast that Canada too will be affected. Commercial building generally will decline slightly from 45.5 million square feet this year, to 42.5 million square feet in 2002, and retail centres and hotel building will suffer due to lack of consumer confidence.
As for Canadian construction activity this year, Carrick found that while the industrial building market fell by 50% largely because of events in the automobile market, the institutional building market continued to flourish with hospitals ($4.4 billion) and schools ($2.3 billion) achieving seven-year building level highs. Investment in engineering infrastructure and energy projects also continued an upward trend ($46.7 million). However, Carrick questions whether this rise will be halted next year if money is diverted to the military.