Dodge Momentum Index Drops Nearly 9% In March

April 10, 2024

Dodge Momentum Index Drops Nearly 9% In March

The Dodge Momentum Index descended 8.6% in March, moving to 164.0. This was down from the revised February score of 179.5. Commercial planning dropped by 3.2%, and institutional planning decreased by a substantial 17.2%.

Sarah Martin, associate director of forecasting for Dodge Construction Network, stated, “In 2023, commercial planning decreased while institutional planning notably improved, sitting 29% above year-ago levels in February 2024. While strong market fundamentals should support institutional planning this year, this side of the Index is more at risk for a substantive correction after last year’s growth.”

	Mar-24	Feb-24	% Change
Dodge Momentum Index	164.0	179.5	-8.6%
Commercial Building	193.3	199.7	-3.2%
Institutional Building	127.8	154.4	-17.2%

Martin continued, “Much of the decline on the institutional side is credited to lower levels of education planning. Between February 2023 and February 2024, life science and R&D laboratory projects account for roughly 34% of education planning value, with that share reaching 59% in some months. In March, however, that share dropped to 7%. The surge of lab construction in recent years may lead to decreased planning demand as the market absorbs new supply in 2024. Likely, lower lab volumes will result in education planning returning to its long-run, and more sustainable, average.”

From a year over year prospective, Dodge stated that commercial activity was slowed due to less office and hotel planning. The drop in institutional planning was attributed to less educational activity.

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Sources: For more information about the Dodge Momentum Index, visit the Dodge Data & Analytics website.