Data centers drive construction growth in April: Dodge

The April DMI improved to 205.1, a 0.9% gain from March’s downwardly revised reading of 203.1. The reading is still 22% higher than levels one year prior.

“Despite an uptick in April, the bulk of the DMI’s growth was driven by a surge in data center planning, while momentum in other nonresidential sectors lagged behind,” said Sarah Martin, Dodge’s associate director of forecasting.

Construction firms are “navigating heightened economic and policy uncertainty, which likely bogged down much of this month’s planning activity,” Mardin added.

April’s results were boosted by a “wave” of data center project planning activity. Excluding data centers, commercial planning would have receded 2.3% last month. The index would have receded 3.0%, the report said.

The commercial building segment of the index grew 3.3% from March to 260.3, a 20% improvement over April 2024 levels. The institutional segment fell 4.2% to 136.4 after reaching a 19-month high just three months ago. The reading is still up 26% compared to one year ago.

Dodge reported that a total of 40 projects valued at $100 million or more entered planning in April, up 25 in March.

The DMU is a leading index for commercial real estate, using the data of planned nonresidential building projects to track spending in this important steel-consuming sector for the next 12 months. An interactive history of the DMI is available on our website.