Homebuilding boom makes D-FW the second biggest construction market in 2021

Driven by a boom in residential construction, the Dallas-Fort Worth area had the second highest construction cost in the country in the first half of 2021.

Only New York City recorded more construction activity in the first six months of the year.

The D-FW area had, according to the latest update from Dodge Data & Analytics, 14.6 billion US dollars at the start of construction. About two-thirds of the new construction activity in North Texas was residential buildings.

And total housing starts increased 24% from the first half of 2020.

The D-FW division led the USA in the start of construction of commercial buildings and apartments.

And single-family home starts in the region have increased more than 40% this year.

The Houston area ranked third nationally with total new construction activity of $ 11.2 billion.

All but seven of the major U.S. metro markets in Dodge Data’s survey had higher construction start-up activity in the first six months of 2021 than in the same period last year.

Construction across the country has recovered since the COVID-19 pandemic slowed construction in the first few months of last year.

Despite this year’s gains, analysts in the construction sector fear rising building material prices and supply chain problems could slow the start.

“Unabated material price inflation has resulted in a significant slowdown in single-family home construction,” said Richard Branch, chief economist at Dodge Data & Analytics, in the latest report. “On the other hand, the incipient recovery in non-residential buildings has continued as projects pile up in the planning phase.

“These mixed signals, coming from both residential and non-residential construction starts, suggest that the recovery from the pandemic will remain mixed in the months ahead as rising material prices and labor shortages weigh on the industry.”

Compared to other Texas markets, housing starts were up 10% year over year in Austin and 14% in San Antonio in the first half of 2021.

The largest declines in the country’s construction were in Portland (-32%) and Chicago (-26%).

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