FMI Predicts Some Economic Recovery This Year

Digging out from the recession, construction activity in the hotel, retail and industrial sectors is expected to emerge from growth slumps this year, although it will take until 2003 for the office sector to recover, predicts FMI in a recently released construction outlook report.

Following an 11% decline in the hotel industry in 2001—which sustained an estimated $3.9 billion worth of damage in fallout from September 11—the Raleigh, N.C.-based market research firm predicts that projects put on hold last year will resume as business and leisure travel pick up again.

On the industrial front, FMI anticipates that this struggling sector will show improvement in 2002, and an even stronger recovery in 2003.

However, it may take the office sector longer to get back on track, especially with high office vacancy rates—a partial result of hard-hit telecom and financial companies putting millions of square feet of sublet office space back on the market.

For more information on this report and other market research, visit FMI’s web site at: www.fminet.com .

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