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www.rockproducts.com ROCK products • DECEMBER 2014 57 while warehouse construction ad‐ vanced 31 percent. Office construction in October slipped 7 percent, although the latest month did include groundbreaking for sev‐ eral noteworthy projects – a $300 million Facebook data center in Al‐ toona, Iowa, a $250 million office tower in San Francisco, and the $132 million office portion of a $195 mil‐ lion office/hotel mixed‐use tower in Seattle. Hotel construction in October experienced a similar decline, sliding 8 percent. The manufacturing plant category in October dropped 36 percent, retreat‐ ing after its 104 percent surge in Sep‐ tember that featured the start of a $1.3 billion methanol plant in Louisiana. Even with its October de‐ cline, the manufacturing plant cate‐ gory did include groundbreaking for several massive projects, including a $618 million wing assembly plant for Boeing in Everett, Wash., and a $350 million solar photovoltaic cell manu‐ facturing plant in Buffalo. Nonbuilding Construction Nonbuilding construction, at $148.7 billion (annual rate), decreased 9 per‐ cent in October. Most of the decline was due to a 67 percent plunge for electric utilities after unusually strong activity in September. The latest month did include the start of one major electric utility project, an $850 million natural gas‐fired power plant in Ohio, but this was in compari‐ son to several projects of larger scale that were entered as September starts. The public works group as a whole in‐ creased 8 percent in October, showing further progress after a 25 percent in‐ crease in September. Highway and bridge construction in October climbed 27 percent, supported by the $598 million Northwest Corridor project in Atlanta. Sewer and waste disposal projects soared 80 percent in October, boosted by the start of an $800 million carbon capture facility in Texas, while water supply projects improved 20 percent. Public works categories that declined in October were river/harbor devel‐ opment, down 22 percent; and mis‐ cellaneous public works, down 32 percent. The miscellaneous public works cate‐ gory had been lifted in September by a large light rail project in Los Angeles and a natural gas pipeline in Arizona. Although activity for this category was substantially lower in October, it did include $575 million for the start of renovation work on Wrigley Field in Chicago. Residential Building Residential building in October grew 11 percent to $245.9 billion (annual rate). After sliding 20 percent in Sep‐ tember, multifamily housing had a particularly strong month in October, climbing 40 percent. There were 11 multifamily projects val‐ ued at $100 million or greater that reached groundbreaking in the latest month, with the top three as follows – a $433 million high‐rise in New York, a $272 million high‐rise in Brooklyn, N.Y., and a $200 million high‐rise in Miami. Single‐family housing in October was unchanged from its September pace, further extending the essentially flat pattern of activity that's been present since the end of 2013. In October, weaker single‐family construction was reported in the Northeast, down 5 percent; and the South Central, down 2 percent; while gains were re‐ ported in the West and South Atlantic, each up 2 percent; and the Midwest, up 3 percent. Murray indicated, "Despite very low mortgage rates, with the 30‐year fixed rate hovering around 4.0 percent, it still remains difficult for first‐time homebuyers to get a mortgage. On a hopeful note, the latest survey of bank lending officers by the Federal Re‐ serve did show some easing of mort‐ gage lending standards during this year's third quarter, maintaining the trend towards slight easing that began in the spring." E Year-to-Date The 5 percent increase for total con- struction starts on an unadjusted basis during the first 10 months of 2014 was the result of mixed behavior by the three main construction sectors. • Nonresidential building advanced 14 percent year-to-date, with each of its three components registering growth – commercial building, up 14 percent; manufacturing building, up 52 percent; and institutional build- ing, up 5 percent. • Residential building improved 7 per- cent year-to-date, with single family housing up only 2 percent while multifamily housing jumped 25 percent. • Nonbuilding construction fell 8 per- cent year-to-date, with public works down 7 percent and electric utilities down 14 percent. Through the first 10 months of 2014, the top five states for highway and bridge construction starts were Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Ohio. States ranked six through 10 were Florida, New York, Georgia, North Car- olina and New Jersey. Through the first 10 months of 2014, the top five metropolitan areas for mul- tifamily construction starts (in dollars) were New York, Miami, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and San Francisco. Metropolitan areas ranked six through 10 were Boston, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Houston. By geography, total construction starts during the January-October period of 2014 showed growth in all five regions – the South Central, up 13 percent; the South Atlantic and the West, each up 4 percent; and the Northeast and the Mid- west, each up 1 percent.