Hawaii’s construction industry should provide a little more oomph to the local economy this year than previously expected, according to a report by economists released Friday.

The analysis by the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization projects that statewide construction spending will reach a decade high of $9 billion this year.

That figure represents a 7 percent increase over $8.4 billion in 2017 — a gain that UHERO last year didn’t expect would happen.

A year ago, UHERO researchers forecast that Hawaii construction spending would be flat this year. However, the new forecast for industry growth is in part due to a smaller-­than-expected gain last year.

Essentially, more spending on construction is getting stretched out over two years, and a leveling off of work remains on the horizon for an industry that is a major driver of the state’s economy.

Spending by contractors building homes, renovating hotels, improving public infrastructure and other work should remain at $9 billion for the next three years, the report forecasts.

“The description is one of relative stability or flatness,” said Carl Bonham, UHERO executive director.

Hawaii’s peak for construction spending adjusted for inflation was $10.6 billion in 2007. If spending reaches $9 billion this year as UHERO forecasts, it would be the most since $10.2 billion in 2008.

Bonham said construction is particularly difficult to forecast because time frames between when permits are issued and construction occurs can vary widely for some of the biggest projects like high-rises.

“If one tower shifts from one year to the next, then you just moved something like $400 million or $500 million from this year to next year,” he said. “That’s a billion-dollar swing.”

One area with projects helping sustain a relatively high level of construction is tourism where record numbers of visitors to Hawaii are encouraging investments in existing and new resort projects.

UHERO’s report noted more than $100 million in renovations ongoing at the 818-room Hale Koa Hotel in Waikiki and a building permit filed in June for $102 million in renovations to the 1,636-room Sheraton Waikiki.

On Wednesday, Hilton Grand Vacations announced that it plans to start building a 32-story Waikiki timeshare tower next year in place of a plan for a condominium-hotel that was slated for construction in 2016 but stalled under another developer.

“Clearly, resort-related construction is a hot area at present,” the report said. “The strong performance of the tourism industry is likely to sustain a relatively high level of activity for at least the next several years.”

Another major sector of construction, housing, is described in the report as “slow but steady.”

Bonham said a higher volume of home building is happening on Oahu but not on the neighbor islands where there was a hangover from the last boom in the mid-2000s.

“We’re not building that many more homes than we were in the mid-’90s when the economy was in the dumps,” he said.

Condominium tower development in Kakaako and the Ala Moana area are big contributors to ongoing construction spending. In Leeward Oahu, developer D.R. Horton is delivering homes at its Ho‘opili master-planned community, and Castle &Cooke Hawaii is expected to start building homes next year at Koa Ridge in Central Oahu after initial infrastructure work is completed.

Government construction projects are projected to represent $1.8 billion of spending this year. Bonham said that compares with $1.2 billion last year and would be the most since $2.4 billion in 2004. Big projects in this category include airport renovations, the city’s rail line and a $375 million sewage tunnel in Kaneohe that was finished in June.

As far as construction costs, UHERO said there was a slight decline of 0.4 percent in the first half of this year. But the organization projects this will be eclipsed by more recent increases, in part due to new import tariffs, that produce a 0.8 percent increase for the full year followed by about a 2 percent rise next year.

These relatively small increases compare with hikes over 4 percent in recent years.

“These are very manageable increases,” Bonham said of the current projections.

Despite the higher overall construction spending UHERO has forecast for this year, the number of jobs in the industry is expected to slip 3 percent this year to 35,100 from 36,300 last year. This would be a second consecutive year of fewer jobs. In 2016, the industry peaked at 38,000 jobs, according to UHERO.

Like construction spending, the number of industry jobs is projected by UHERO to remain flat for the next three years.