Sarah Martin, Dodge’s associate director of forecasting, said despite the more challenging economic conditions, the new data tracks closely with past building cycles.
“The continued elevation in the DMI should provide hope that construction activity will grow in 2024,” Martin said in the release, noting that owners and developers tend to plan out projects until well after a downturn starts. “During the Great Recession, for example, the DMI did not substantially decline until 2009. Therefore, the anticipated mild economic growth in 2023 could cause the DMI to moderate over the year, but it is unlikely to fall below historical norms.”
