A long-awaited construction rebound has been so slow to emerge that some in the industry are merely hopeful the market avoids another decline in the coming year.

While some commercial contractors are working on substantial projects, most don't have significant backlogs, says Kate McCaslin, president and CEO of the Inland Pacific Chapter of Associated Builders & Contractors Inc.

"We're looking for a continued, very flat year, and we're hoping there's not another downturn," McCaslin says.

Anecdotally, she says, some architects and engineers, who typically would be the first to see any improvement on the construction horizon, are starting to ramp up.

"Construction is a lag industry," McCaslin says. "All good news on the economy will be slow to get to the construction industry."

The values of building permits issued through the first 10 months of 2011 in Spokane County and the cities of Spokane and Spokane Valley totaled $497.6 million, an increase of 2.5 percent compared with the year-earlier period.

Projects valued at an additional $67.9 million are under plan review at the city of Spokane. They include the second and third phases of the Ferris High School modernization project, valued at $29 million; a $10.9 million Lowe Cos. store move and expansion project at 6606 N. Division; and a $10.3 million addition at Providence Sacred Heart Children's Hospital & Medical Center, at 101 W. Eighth.

Additionally, one Spokane building project not yet in plan review but expected to start in 2012 is the next phase of the $78 million Washington State University Biomedical and Health Sciences Building that will house medical and pharmacy schools on the Riverpoint Campus east of downtown. Footing and foundation work for that project is under way.

Cheryl Stewart, assistant executive director of the Inland Northwest Associated General Contractors, says she doesn't expect to see a lot of capital for new building projects in the coming year, with the exception of modest growth in hospital and medical construction and multifamily housing.

Residential builders are finding it difficult to compete against existing home prices that are being pressured downward by distressed and bank-owned properties, says Corey Condron, owner of Condron Homes LLC, a longtime Spokane homebuilder.

For that reason, Condron Homes is building more modest homes starting in the $160,000 price range, which is substantially less than the company built homes for during the housing boom of the last decade.

Condron says he'll be pleased if the company sells 25 new homes next year. That would be an increase from about 20 homes this year, which is about 25 percent of what the company could have expected to sell a few years ago, he says.

In the public sector, the near-term health of the commercial construction industry will be contingent on whether federal and state transportation projects receive funding, Stewart says.

Due to state and federal budget woes, the industry is expecting transportation funding will be somewhat below current levels next year.

"Public funding might help maintain transportation projects, but it won't expand them," she says.