Nationally, construction spending for ongoing projects reached its highest annual level since 2008 with a total value of $469.5 billion in 2015, according to Forbes. While the total value is high, the 4 percent increase over 2014 was a much slower pace than previous years. Comparatively, 2014 was up 16 percent, 2013 was up 19 percent, and 2012 was up 11 percent.
This slowing pace was due, in large part, to an 8 percent drop off in the non-residential sector thanks to a 39 percent decline in spending on manufacturing construction after the oil and gas boom in 2014.
Because of the falling oil prices, Houston, America’s oil capital, saw a 49 percent drop in construction starts in 2015. However, the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area, and its more diverse economy, saw a 19 percent growth in the value of new project starts for 2015.
The Dallas area wasn’t the only large metro that saw plenty of construction in 2015, however, as Forbes has compiled a list of the top 20 U.S. Metro areas with the most new construction in 2015. Los Angeles, Chicago, and Boston are on the list, but none of those cities were able to match the spending on construction starts of the number one metro on the list.
