The recession in the housing market continues to be a drag on overall construction growth. Through the first quarter of this year, the dollar value of new private home construction was down 20% from the first quarter of 2007 (see table). Currently, home building accounts for 40% of the dollar value of all new construction, according to the U. S. Dept. of Commerce. In 2006, housing accounted for 54% of the dollar value of all new construction put-in-place. Despite the deep recession in housing, nonresidential building work continues to be strong. The total value of new private nonresidential building work put-in-place through the first quarter of this year was 15% above the same period of 2007. Some of the strongest year-to-year growth rates were 50% for hotels and motels, 31 % for manufacturing, 20% for educational buildings and 11 % for office building work. New construction work for the private health-care market was up 5% from a year ago, with the total market reaching $9 billion.
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