BUSINESS MEMO: CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY

Construction activity in Missouri was down 20 percent in July but is almost even with the 1997 pace through the first seven months.

The F.W. Dodge Division of McGraw-Hill, an authority on the construction market, reported total construction for July at $465,736,000, down from the $585,235,000 of the previous July.

The state's July nonresidential construction, which includes commercial, manufacturing and other buildings not designed for shelter, was $139,335,000, down more than 40 percent from the $242,107,000 figures of July, 1997.

Residential construction was $287,892,000, up 16 percent from the $247,715,000 in July 1997.

Nonbuilding construction, which includes streets, highways, bridges, river and harbor developments, airports and a few other projects, was at $38,509,000 for July, down 60 percent from the $95,413,000 during July 1997.

Construction for the first seven months was down only slightly, at $3,508,490,000, compared to $3,511,361,000 a year ago.

Nonresidential construction through July was $1.1 billion, down 6 percent from the $1.29 billion for the first seven months of 1997; residential construction was reported at $1.63 billion, up 5 percent from the $1.55 billion of 1997; nonbuilding was reported at $656.4 million, up slightly from the $655.6 million of 1997.