America’s 13-year church-building slump may soon come to an end.
By Ben Leubsdorf | The Wall Street Journal
The construction of U.S. religious buildings–a category that includes churches as well as synagogues, temples, mosques and other structures–peaked in 2002 at 51.9 million square feet of new space, according to construction-data firm Dodge Data & Analytics. It began a steady decline long before the latest recession and Dodge estimates it will hit 9.3 million square feet this year, down 82% from 2002 and the lowest level since records began in 1967.
