First Half 2019 Commercial and Multifamily Construction Starts Show Pattern by Metropolitan Area

New York -- During the first half of 2019, six of the top ten U.S. metropolitan markets for commercial and multifamily construction starts (ranked by dollar volume) registered greater activity compared to a year ago, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. Of the top twenty markets, thirteen were able to register gains. At the U.S. level, the volume of commercial and multifamily construction starts during the first half of 2019 was $101.4 billion, down 6% from last year’s $107.4 billion.

The New York metropolitan area, at $15.0 billion, maintained its longstanding number one ranking by dollar volume, although it settled back 8% from a year ago. Several very large projects had boosted New York’s first half 2018 total, including the $1.8 billion Spiral office tower in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards district. The first half of 2019 also witnessed groundbreaking for several very large projects, such as the $1.1 billion TSX Broadway Hotel project in Times Square, yet this year’s lift from very large projects was slightly less than what took place during 2018.