Rising home starts fueled D-FW construction increase in May

A surge in housing starts in May led to a sharp surge in construction activity in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Residential construction activity rose more than 40% year over year last month, according to a report from Dodge Data & Analytics. Home construction starts are almost unchanged from May 2020, but total construction in North Texas increased 25% year over year.

In the first five months of 2021, construction starts at D-FW are 18% ahead of the same period last year, according to Dodge Data. Most of the increase can be attributed to the rising construction starts of single and multi-family houses.

Nationwide housing starts declined in May on a 1% decline in residential construction, analysts at Dodge Data found.

In May, more than 2 billion

“The weight of higher material prices and the shortage of skilled workers has a direct and noticeable impact on residential construction,” said Richard Branch, chief economist at Dodge Data & Analytics, in the latest report. “These negative factors are expected to continue to affect the sector for the remainder of the year and result in a less positive impact of housing on overall construction.

“Although the non-residential sector is feeling a similar impact, it is continuing its modest rebound from last summer’s lows,” he said. “There are enough projects in the planning pipeline that suggest this trend should continue into next year, but higher material prices will translate into longer lead times for groundbreaking and more moderate improvements in non-residential buildings.”

US non-residential housing starts rose 10% in May. In 2020, the D-FW area had to accept a 20% decline in construction activity due to the pandemic.

The construction starts of D-FW were available in May and have been higher since the beginning of the year.(Dodge data and analysis)

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