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Project Stress was picked up in March as the growing uncertainty led Developers to leave projectsAccording to the latest Constructconnect data based on Cincinnati.
The project stress rate, a measure of construction projects that have stopped, abandoned or with a delayed offer date, increased by 1.1% in March. This is an increase of 13.7% over the levels of 2021, the reference year of the index, according to Constructconnect.
The rise in global stress last month took place despite a fall of 8% of the activity in maintenance and a dive of 0.7% in the delayed offers. Michael Guckes, a chief economist in Constructconnect.
“The first weeks and months of 2025 have experienced an unpleasant increase in the activity of abandoning the project,” Guckes told Construction Dive. “The level of abandonment in both sectors is currently above and far above the private sector, historical averages.”
This rise echoes the patterns seen in early 2024, when fear High rates and evaluations Led some developers to remove. Guckes added that the industry is facing now uncertainty levelEspecially if entry prices continue to jump this year.
“Although the current environment is still one of the high interest rates, other concerns related to the stability of the economy in the next quarters and even years can be owners and developers who now leave projects,” said Guckes. “This can be especially true in modest performance projects of investment expectations.”
Private projects are still the main pressure pointAccording to the data.
The number of private projects were awaiting more than doubled in the last 12 months, 110% more than in March 2024. Although private sector dropouts have fallen slightly since March, 3.8% is still far above historical averages, said Guuckes.
Guckes said that the crisis arising from President Donald Trump’s rates has an impact on construction projects.
“Although private projects are only a small part of the total number of projects awaiting, we have definitely seen once in this figure since the beginning of February,” said Guckes. “This does not seem to be accident Recent government policy and the renewed withdrawal of Outlook surveys, including the Important survey of consumer sentiment. “”
The public sector, on the other hand, showed some stabilization. The projects that were launched fell by 22.2% since March, while abandonments fell by 16.3% compared to the same period last year.
During March, there were almost two dropouts in the private sector for each abandoned public project, according to the report.
