Chicago Tops in the Country in New Construction Starts

Chicago was the leader in new construction activity last month, according to two key measurements outlined in a recent report from BuildFax. As noted, Chicago was just one of four metro areas that saw a major jump in new construction and work on existing homes, ranking ahead of New York City, Washington D.C., and Dallas in terms of year-over-year increases in both categories.

Maintenance activity in Chicago spiked 20 percent in February compared to the same month last year, and new construction increased by a whopping 60 percent. For comparison, New York registered just a 51 percent increase in new construction and Washington D.C. only a 15 percent increase in maintenance work to existing homes.

Despite the positive new construction numbers overall, Chicago’s crane count did see a bit of a drop over a six month period while many other cities saw an increase in this category.

While Chicago, NYC, Washington D.C. and Dallas all saw increases in new construction acuity in 2018, most metro areas saw a decline in both categories, perhaps a nationwide housing slowdown could be on the horizon.