In the midst of a national inventory shortage, new construction spending is up in Chicago, according to the latest numbers from Dodge Data & Analytics.
Dodge’s report shows that in the month of February, the metropolitan statistical area of Chicago has seen $134,687,000 spent on nonresidential construction. Last year spending clocked in at $199,308,000 in the same month, marking a 32 percent decrease. Meanwhile, construction on residential buildings increased by four percent.
However, builders seem to have big plans for Chicago-area projects this year. So far in 2017, new construction spending has reached $1,099,510,00 on residential construction; by this time last year only $631,116,000 had been spent on residential construction, a jump of 74 percent. Nonresidential construction has also decreased year-to-date, by a margin of 11 percent.
Though these numbers seem to bode well for Chicago against the backdrop of an inventory shortage, other major cities like Boston are facing a 71 percent drop from last year’s residential construction numbers.
| Feb. 2017 | Feb. 2016 | Percent change | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonresidential | $134,687,000 | $199,308,000 | -32 | ||
| Residential | $224,387,000 | $215,666,000 | 4 | ||
| Total | $359,074,000 | $414,974,000 | -13 | ||
| Year-to-date figures: | |||||
| 2017 | 2016 | Percent change | |||
| Nonresidential | $459,523,000 | $519,113,000 | -11 | ||
| Residential | $1,099,510,000 | $631,116,000 | 74 | ||
| Total | $1,559,033,000 | $1,150,229,000 | 36 |