For the first 11 months of 2005, total construction was 9 percent higher than during the same stretch of 2004, with private residential up 11 percent, public up 8 percent and private nonresidential up 5 percent, the Census Bureau recently reported. The leading categories were multi-retail up 25 percent; manufacturing 23 percent; private multi-family up 21 percent, hospital 13 percent; private single-family up 12 percent and highway and street 11 percent.

McGraw-Hill Construction reported construction starts dropped 1 percent from October to November, but that the year-to-date total was 10 percent higher than in 2004 from January through November.

The Census Bureau reported that new orders for manufactured durable goods in November increased 4.4 percent, which suggests demand for manufacturing construction could remain strong in 2006.