A decline in commercial buildings in Dallas-Fort Worth beginning in August impacted all construction for the month.
But construction activity in the D-FW area has been above that of the previous year since the beginning of the year.
North Texas non-residential housing starts declined 19% year over year in August, according to the latest report from Dodge Data & Analytics. The decline in commercial construction compensated for an increase of 7% in residential construction starts.
For the whole of August, almost $ 2.6 billion in construction starts were recorded by D-FW. As a result, total construction activity rose to $ 19.3 billion in the first eight months of the year – 18% more than in the same period in 2020, Dodge Data found.
More than $ 12 billion of D-FW construction activity in 2021 was in residential buildings, up 28% from the first eight months of last year.
Housing starts for commercial buildings have risen by around 4% since the beginning of the year.
The nationwide housing starts fell by 9% in August. Housing starts for non-residential buildings were 13% lower and residential construction activity declined by 9%.
“Construction has entered a difficult period after the euphoria in the early stages of recovery from the pandemic,” said Richard Branch, chief economist at Dodge Data & Analytics, in the new report. “The Delta option has raised concerns that the emerging economic recovery is stalling and undermining the already low demand for most types of non-residential buildings.
“In addition, significant price increases in building materials, logistical constraints and labor shortages are compounding the difficult situation,” he said. “Housing starts are likely to remain uncertain over the next few months.”
The construction activity of the D-FW has increased steadily in the last year after a slowdown at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Dodge Data, the D-FW area was second only to New York City in terms of total construction activity at mid-year.
Most of this year’s growth in building construction at D-FW comes from the start of construction of single-family houses, which in the second quarter were more than 40% above the previous year’s figure.
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