Ohio Contracts Declined in 2009

A drastic drop in commercial construction contracts sent Central Ohio’s building pipeline to a nearly 70 percent decline in October, according to new data from McGraw-Hill Construction.

The company in its monthly report said contracts for future construction in the region were valued at $127.5 million last month, down 69 percent from $407.4 million a year ago. Commercial building contracts plunged 77 percent to $76.9 million as residential contracts slipped 32 percent to $50.6 million.

At the end of the first 10 months of the year, construction contracts in Central Ohio totaled $1.12 billion, down 48 percent from $2.16 billion a year ago. That accounts for a 62 percent drop in commercial activity at $549.3 million and a comparably mild 18 percent decline in residential contracts at $574.5 million.

McGraw-Hill’s research and analytics unit examines construction contracts monthly using data from Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Licking, Madison, Morrow, Pickaway and Union counties. McGraw-Hill Construction is a division of New York-based McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. (NYSE:MHP), a provider of textbooks, educational services and financial and business information. McGraw-Hill is one of Central Ohio’s largest employers with about 1,200 workers at its education publishing unit in the Polaris area and a distribution operation on the city’s far east side.