The first three month of 1999 were ...

The first three month of 1999 were surprisingly well adapted for the nonresidential construction market. Although the industrial and institutional sectors showed solely the faintest signs of improving concerning last year's disappointing performance, commercial construction activity expanded at a robust rate.

And shooting in the residential and heavy (nonbuildings) construction sectors was level stronger. Spending for new single-family place of abodes moved up 19.9 percent between the first quarter of 1998 and the first quarter of this year, while the value of multifamily building construction expanded