Total residential construction starts fell by 4% in May 2017, down to an annual rate of $284.9 billion, according to the latest report by Dodge Data & Analytics. Of this number, the multifamily housing share of residential construction starts fell by 10% in May, following a 20% increase in start activity over the previous two months.
Seven multifamily projects valued at $100 million or more reached groundbreaking in the U.S. in May. The most valuable project is a $450 million multifamily high-rise in Lower Manhattan, followed by the $200 million multifamily portion of a multifamily/hotel mixed-use high rise in Chicago and a $200 million multifamily high-rise in Boston.
This year to date, residential building starts have remained flat, while single family housing starts have increased 8% and multifamily housing starts have decreased 17%. On a moving twelve-month basis, residential construction starts have grown by 3%, single-family home starts have increased by 7%, and multifamily starts have fallen 6%.
The top five metropolitan areas by multifamily start volume in May were New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Boston. New York is also the top metro area by multifamily start volume over the first five months of 2017 with 18% of all multifamily starts nationwide. This marks an increase from last year’s 17% share, but still remains below 2015’s 25% share.
Across the entire construction industry, new construction starts increased by 1% from April to May 2017, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $651.2 billion.
