BUSINESS MEMO: MISSOURI CONSTRUCTION

The 1997 totals are in. Missouri construction finished with a flurry but was still down 5 percent for the year.

Total construction was up 27 percent in December, from December 1996, following increases in commercial, educational, and streets and highway construction.

December totals were at $435,716,000, more than 25 percent over the $342,333,000 during the same month in 1996, according to the F.W. Dodge Division of McGraw-Hill, an authority on the construction market. Dodge, which issues monthly totals in its Dodge Report, also publishes Sweet's Catalog Files.

The state's December nonresidential construction, which includes commercial, manufacturing, educational, religious, administrative, recreational, hotel, dormitory and other buildings, was $172,837,000, 72 percent more than the $100,635,000 in December 1996.

Nonbuilding construction, which includes streets, highways, bridges, river and harbor developments, airports and a few other projects, was also up in December, $117,589,000, compared to the $74,035,000 during the same month a year ago.

Residential construction, which includes one- and two-family houses and apartments, was $145,290,000, down 13 percent from the $167,663,000 in December 1996.

Construction was down 5 percent for the year, at $5.8 billion, down from the $6.1 billion of 1996.

Residential construction for the year was down 5 percent, at $2.5 billion, from $2.7 billion a year ago. 1997 totals for nonresidential construction was $2.1 billion, down 5 percent from $2.3 billion during 1996. Nonbuilding was down 4 percent, from $1.2 billion in 1996 to $1.1 billion in 1997.