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January 16, 2025 - 12:43pm

Article written by Grace Calengor on ConstructionExec.com.

No recession in 2025? Anirban Basu seems optimistic about the state of the construction economy at year's end.

On Dec. 11, 2024, Construction Executive presented its final economic webinar of the year. Hosted by Anirban Basu, ABC’s chief economist, “Construction Executive’s 2025 Construction Economic Forecast” revealed many things for contractors to be on the lookout for next year—and not all of them bad. Comparing poll results from Q3, as well as answering viewers’ top questions, Basu discussed the surprising performance of the 2024 construction economy and his equally surprising outlook for 2025.

POLL RESULTS

Which of these is the leading challenge for your company today?

Supply chain and/or materials issues

Skills / worker shortage

Insufficient demand for construction services

Availability of financing for projects/project work

None of the above

Over the last three months, how has your company’s backlog fared?

It has risen considerably

It has risen slightly

It has remained about the same

It has declined slightly

It has declined considerably

Where do you expect your company’s profit margins to be a year from now?

Substantially higher

Slightly higher

About the same

Slightly lower

Substantially lower

Main Takeaways

While he did address many questions relating to the workforce/skilled labor shortage, the outgoing administration (IIJA) and incoming administration (tariffs), Basu actually wasn’t insistent on the U.S. entering a recession anytime soon; in fact, he hardly mentioned recession at all. His overall outlook for the 2025 construction economy—while uncertain in some respects—is starting out positive.

For all the insights, view the full webinar on ConstructionExec.com.

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