Ken Simonson didn't pull any punches in last week's presentation titled "Construction and Materials Outlook: Sinking Demand, Higher Costs" at the monthly luncheon meeting of the local NAIOP chapter.

Residential construction will continue to decline during the rest of 2008. Commercial, institutional and government construction will still grow but at a slower rate than last year. Construction costs will keep going up.

"I think we have several more months of pain ahead of us," said Simonson, chief economist for the Arlington, Va.-based Associated General Contractors of America.

Speaking to about 485 people at the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties luncheon, he did have some good news from a recent survey of 100 economists. The consensus is that the national economy is not headed toward a recession. Back in March, the same economists believed a recession was coming.