Anchorage construction decline.

• Author: Ainsworth, Joel
• Position: Alaska Trends

The Anchorage Municipality requires permitting for most residential and commercial building within the city. Each month, the city aggregates and releases the location of building and valuation of commercial and residential permits occurred during that period. The valuation of a permit is the builder's expected value at the time of application. The data collected in these monthly reports can provide a useful tool for monitoring building construction activity around Anchorage.

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The graph has been adjusted for inflation to measure the real value of building construction in Anchorage since 2000. As illustrated, spending on residential projects began a rapid decrease in 2003. Conversely, commercial spending peaked in 2006, prior to beginning a softer, but downward trend. Yet, as illustrated below, the...