The value of new-construction starts across all construction sectors—residential, nonresidential, and nonbuilding—rose by 14% over the previous month in September, up to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $814.8 billion, according to the latest report from Dodge Data & Analytics. This translates to a reading of 172 for the Dodge index, up from 151 in August and the highest reading so far this year.
On an unadjusted basis, total construction starts reached $557.7 billion between January and September 2017, closely matching the corresponding amount from one year ago.
The nonresidential building sector made up the majority of the new-construction start volume during this period, with a 37% boost from one month to the next. Nonbuilding construction starts fell by 3% over the same period.
Residential construction start values, meanwhile, rose by 1% in September, up to an annual rate of $298.9 billion. Single-family home starts rose 1%, while multifamily housing starts rose by 2%, following an 8% drop in new starts in August. Dodge notes that multifamily starts have exhibited an “up-and-down” pattern over the course of 2017.
Seven multifamily projects valued at $100 million or more broke ground across the country in September. These include the $235 million multifamily portion of a $290 million mixed-use project in New York; a $200 million high-rise in San Diego; and a $189 million tower in Jersey City, N.J.
The top five metropolitan markets for dollar volume for multifamily starts in September were New York, Dallas–Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Boston. During the first nine months of 2017, the top five metropolitan markets ranked by dollar volume of multifamily starts, and their percentage change from one year ago, were New York (down 7%), Los Angeles (down 13%), Chicago (down 27%), San Francisco (up 1%), and Washington, D.C. (down 12%.)
