Contracting for new construction will fall 4%...

Contracting for new construction will fall 4% next year to a total of $241 billion, said George A. Christie, chief economist of McGraw-Hill Information Services Co. Continuing high vacancy rates in offices and apartments and rising mortgage interest rates will bring a decline in both commercial and residential building, Christie said. In the first nine months of this year, new building contracting declined about 3% from the 1987 level, according to McGraw-Hill. Contracting is off 40% in the overdeveloped commercial building sector, Christie said.