Construction Trend Tuesday
A post on church construction to celebrate Easter
Construction Trend Tuesday covers one (hopefully) interesting industry trend in a quick, two minute read. You can access the archive of CTT posts here. If you’d like to sponsor CTT posts, just respond to this email or drop us a comment.
Religious construction spending started to rise in late 2022, ending a 20 year slump. Investment in new religious buildings is up nearly 70% over the past 2.5 years.
I don’t have a great explanation for this reversal. Maybe a combination of postponed projects in 2020 and 2021 and more donations in the post-pandemic economy? Doesn’t feel too convincing.
Drop a comment or respond to this email if you have a better explanation.
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I don’t have an explanation but I do have a comment. As Board President of a local food pantry, I’ve seen the number of families we serve also increase by 70% over the last TWO years. Lots of folks are struggling. I would suggest that funds being spent by churches for construction might be more appropriately used for helping their community members in need. Just a thought.
It's an interesting statistic. I don't have a complete explanation but I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is building temples at an unprecedented rate. They have announced the construction of over 150 new temples in the past five years, 53 of them in the United States. The cost of these temples is significant. Much more than a typical church. Not the whole story but it could be part of it.