Construction market spending forecast: Which industries will benefit?

According to an IHS Global Insight forecast, the construction market and spending outlook for manufacturing construction, healthcare construction, infrastructure construction and transportation construction are as follow:

Manufacturing construction - IHS believes that the the surge in spending brought about by building pipelines and refineries will slow and going forward the spending on manufacturing construction will likely plummet. On an annual basis, total manufacturing construction spending is forecast to fall 41.5% in 2010 and another 12% in 2011 before recovering in 2012.

Healthcare construction - IHS believes that the total spending on hospitals and other healthcare buildings will continue to increase. They believe that this pace of spending will grow steadily. They also forecast that the increase in healthcare construction will be driven especially by rapid expansion in public healthcare construction.

Infrastructure construction - IHS forecast infrastructure construction is forecast to rise 6.4% in 2010 and 4.5% in 2011. However, they expect power segment construction tol decline. Another major reason for the increase in infrastructure construction spending is that most of the $82 billion in infrastructure investment included in the $787 billion Federal stimulus package of 2009 will be allocated in the years 2010 and 2011.

Transportation construction - IHS forecasts transportation infrastructure spending to see moderate increases in 2010. The Federal stimulus package of 2009 also includes $13 billion for rail projects, which will boost spending. On the downside, transit systems in several major cities are facing deficits equal to at least 12% of their operating budgets. Therefore how these cities respond to the budget shortfall will have a major impact on transportation construction in the next couple of years.