Oct. future construction contracts rise from 2011

In October, the value of future construction contracts in New Hampshire increased $27 million from a year earlier, but they were down about $25 million from September.

Future construction contracts for October in New Hampshire had a total value of $105.3 million, according to industry information service McGraw-Hill Construction, which releases the data each month. That marks a 35 percent jump from October 2011, when they totaled $78.1 million, but a 19 percent dip from the $129.9 million recorded in September of this year.

For the year through October, the value of future construction is outpacing 2011 by 6 percent. In the first 10 months of 2012, there has been $1.36 billion worth of future construction contracts reported in New Hampshire, up from the $1.29 billion through the same period of 2011.

The construction sector that saw the biggest monthly year-over-year jump in October was nonresidential building, which totaled $35.3 million — nearly triple the $13.2 million recorded in October 2011.

That could be a good sign for that sector, which has otherwise seen a huge drop in activity in 2012. In 2011, nonresidential construction through October totaled $646.5 million; for the same period of 2012, it fell 40 percent to $388.6 million.

Meanwhile, residential building also had a strong month in October. It totaled $42.9 million, up 23 percent from the $34.8 million seen in October 2011. Residential building has been on the upswing from last year, rising 8 percent from $376.9 million through the first 10 months of 2011 to $406.3 through the same period of 2012.

The only sector that saw a year-over-year dip in October was nonbuilding contracts, which includes such projects as roads, bridges and utilities. They fell 10 percent from $30.2 million in October 2011 to $27.1 million in October 2012.

Despite the monthly decline, nonbuilding contracts are way up over last year. In the first 10 months of 2011, nonbuilding contracts totaled $263.5 million. In the same period of 2012, they had more than doubled to $567.3 million.