SAN FRANCISCO—For major-metro regions in California, including Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana; San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville; San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos; and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, there has been an overall increase in construction activity in year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter analysis, according to a new 4^th quarter 2012 report from the BidClerk Construction Index™ (BCI).

In a year-over-year breakout of major-market California public and private construction projects that were actively bidding, the BCI found that overall construction activity increased 20.8%, compared to a (-2.9%) decrease reported by BCI for the 3^rd quarter of 2012. Over the same period, private construction experienced a decrease of (-9.2%), while public construction experienced a dramatic increase of 34.4%.

BCI's quarter-over-quarter data showed mixed performance, with public construction increasing 13.4%, and private construction decreasing (-11.9%). This compares to BCI's 3^rd quarter 2012 report, which showed a quarter-over-quarter decrease of (-18.7%) for all construction projects, with private construction decreasing (-13.1%) and public projects decreasing (-20.7%).

For the Los Angeles area in a year-over-year analysis, actively bidding construction projects saw a 17.3% increase in combined public and private projects. In a quarter-over-quarter analysis, BCI's 4^th quarter 2012 data showed that the Los Angeles area experienced an 18.5% increase in overall activity.

In the San Francisco area, total construction projects actively bidding saw an increase of 49.8% compared to the same period one year ago. In a quarter-over-quarter analysis, BCI's 4^th quarter 2012 data showed that overall construction activity was up only slightly, increasing 0.7%.

In the San Diego area, total construction projects that were actively bidding were up 10.6%, compared to the same period one year ago, the BCI found. In a BCI quarter-over-quarter analysis, the San Diego area also saw an increase of 14.1%.

The California counties surveyed by the BidClerk Construction Index include Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana; San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont; Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville; San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos; and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario.

Today's new construction project data was released by BidClerk, a leading provider of construction project data and marketing tools for building product manufacturers, contractors, and distributors. The BidClerk Construction Index is a quarterly data service offered at no cost to media outlets that cover regional construction news. Members of the media may request a custom BidClerk Construction Index report for a specific area by contacting BidClerk: [email protected].