Above: AGC research predicts top construction trends for 2025.( List courtesy of the Associated General Contractors of America)
General Contractors
Ken Simonson, chief economist, AGC
The outlook for construction is generally positive but has become more uncertain since the election.
Demand is strong for data centers, power projects, manufacturing plants and several categories of infrastructure. But the prospect of higher tariffs may drive up construction costs and invite retaliatory action by U. S. trading partners. Both of these consequences could lead to project cancellations.
While the stock market reacted favorably to the election results and the Federal Reserve continued cutting its short-term interest rate target, long-term interest rates moved higher.
These mixed impacts suggest that economic expansion is likely to continue but home buyers and issuers of municipal bonds, such as school districts, will face higher borrowing costs, limiting the growth of homebuilding and public construction projects. Possible policy changes affecting both would-be
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