Dive Brief:
- New York City's building boom is as hot as ever. The city saw $2.9 billion worth of public and private institutional construction starts during the first half of this year. That figure is up from $796 million during the same period in 2014, according to the New York Building Congress and Dodge Data & Analytics.
- Hospitals and healthcare facilities led the pack, accounting for 35% of the total value of starts during the first half of 2015. Public elementary and secondary schools were close behind, accounting for 33% of starts during the period, followed by colleges and universities, at 23%.
- 2015 had the strongest start to a year in terms of the value of building project starts since 2009, when the New York Building Congress began tracking the data.
Dive Insight:
Building Congress President Richard T. Anderson said the results demonstrate institutions' efforts to invest and upgrade buildings "for the long haul."
"Unlike the residential sector, which can quickly go from boom to bust and back again based on economic conditions, the institutional sector has proven to be a reliable and consistent source of construction activity year in and year out," he said.
New York City is in the midst of a building boom across multiple sectors. The city issued more residential building permits during the first six months of 2015 than during the same period of any year since 1963.
The number of commercial and multifamily construction starts in New York during the first half of the year far outpaced activity in every other city. And more offices are currently under construction in the city than at any time over the last 25 years.
After the residential report was released, Anderson predicted that surge would boost spending on construction in the city this year even more than the 26% it increased in 2014.
