GE Capital’s Industry Research Monitor for Spring 2012 indicates the construction industry experienced small but consistent quarterly improvements in virtually all metrics providing positive momentum for 2012.
According to the report, total construction put-in-place improved 1.5% year-over-year in Q4 2011 to $204.7 billion with improvements in residential and non-residential building construction offset by a slight decline in non-building construction.
The report also indicates new construction equipment orders as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau, continued to improve in Q4 2011 increasing 27.6% YoY to $14.0 billion after increasing 37.8% YoY in Q3 2011.
New equipment orders totaled $49.9 billion in 2011, reflecting a 38.2% improvement from 2010 levels. The report provides a positive future outlook by dealers and end-users based on new orders which continue to outpace shipments.
Shipments of construction equipment also demonstrated improvement, increasing 34.0% YoY in Q4 2011 to $13.4 billion after increasing 44.4% YoY in Q3 2011.
On an annual comparative basis, construction equipment shipments totaled $47.4 billion in 2011, a 38.5% increase over 2010.
The used equipment market is also continuing to improve with lower inventory and increasing prices.
To read GE Capital’s Spring 2012 Research Monitor on the construction industry, click here.