East

By Region EAST

U.S. Construction Market | Market Snapshot Q4 - 2021

Atlanta will likely become more relevant as a financial and cultural hub in the coming years. This is reflected in its construction volume, which is expected to see small but sustained growth. The city has grown by almost 20% over the last 10 years, and all these new residents need a place to live and a way to get to work. This growth has created consistent demand for the residential and infrastructure sectors. Atlanta has departed from trends in other southern cities and invested in high-density, mixed-income residential projects. This is visible in its footprint, which has undeniably grown upwards rather than outwards. Atlanta boasts one of the most educated workforces in the country, with adults here almost twice as likely to have a college degree than the national average. This has led many corporations to move their offices to the city, which has in turn kept unemployment low. Over the last year it returned to — and even improved upon — pre-pandemic levels. Construction employment remains below 2019 levels, which could drive labor costs up in the short term.

Total Construction Market Volume by Sector (x $1m, Nominalized 2012$) Annual Volume (x$1m, 2012$)

* This includes religious buildings, amusement, government communications and public recreation projects.

Regional Construction Employment Construction Spending Index 2010-2021 (2010=1.0)

Construction Volume vs Labor - Annual Increase/Decrease Top Regional Projects Sorted by Construction Value

U.S. Construction Market | Market Snapshot Q4 - 2021

Boston’s construction market managed steady growth in 2021. This is not expected to last, however, and pre-pandemic tends are expected to take over in 2022 and beyond. The market has been steadily declining over the last few years, as population growth slows and businesses move to where things are cheapest. 2021 saw a bit of a spike, likely partly due to pandemic-related residential construction and partly to resuming projects that were paused in 2020. Many other sectors, like commercial and retail, have been done a significant blow by the rise of e-commerce. Even so, Boston has been steadily adding construction workers to its labor force over the last 10 years. It added workers over 2021 just as quickly as it laid them off in 2020, and today there are more than ever. If this trend continues, however, we expect labor to outpace volume and drive prices down in the next few years.

Total Construction Market Volume by Sector (x $1m, Nominalized 2012$) Annual Volume (x$1m, 2012$)

* This includes religious buildings, amusement, government communications and public recreation projects.

Regional Construction Employment

Construction Volume vs Labor - Annual Increase/Decrease Construction Spending Index 2010-2021 (2010=1.0)

Top Regional Projects Sorted by Construction Value

U.S. Construction Market | Market Snapshot Q4 - 2021

If the number of new skyscrapers in Miami is any indication, the market is expected to perform quite well in the coming years. Several infrastructure projects have finally finished this year, leading to a slowdown in volume relative to 2020. The market is expected to grow into 2022 and beyond, driven by several high-density residential projects.

Miami’s economy is quite diverse, but the tourism and leisure sectors still make up a significant source of employment. This is likely why unemployment remains above pre-pandemic levels: tourism has not yet recovered. Things have been slowly improving, but Miami has some distance to go before a full recovery. It continues to be a leader in vaccination rates, which have helped it weather the Delta variant and could have the same effect with the Omicron variant. Construction employment is still below what it was before the pandemic; combined with an increase in construction in the coming years, this could drive labor costs up.

Total Construction Market Volume by Sector (x $1m, Nominalized 2012$) Annual Volume (x$1m, 2012$)

* This includes religious buildings, amusement, government communications and public recreation projects.

Regional Construction Employment

Construction Volume vs Labor - Annual Increase/Decrease Construction Spending Index 2010-2021 (2010=1.0)

Top Regional Projects Sorted by Construction Value

U.S. Construction Market | Market Snapshot Q4 - 2021

The overall outlook for New York has not changed significantly since our last report. Strict measures to control the spread of COVID-19 caused the market to contract by around 4% in 2020, and continuing uncertainty around new variants has caused it to contract slightly further. Looking ahead, the market is expected to continue to shrink as the fallout from the pandemic bleeds into broad trends in where people live and work.

The policies that New York implemented to control COVID-19 have generally been successful, and today the city enjoys low caseloads and high vaccination rates. This has come at the expense of the local economy — unemployment remains significantly above the national average and has been holding at around 9%. Construction employment has declined slightly since 2020, and this is likely to continue given the expected decline in construction. New York is likely to take a more cautious approach than the rest of the U.S., so these numbers are not wholly accurate. It is entirely possible that the market will bounce back and make a full recovery sometime next year.

Total Construction Market Volume by Sector (x $1m, Nominalized 2012$) Annual Volume (x$1m, 2012$)

* This includes religious buildings, amusement, government communications and public recreation projects.

Regional Construction Employment

Construction Volume vs Labor - Annual Increase/Decrease Construction Spending Index 2010-2021 (2010=1.0)

Top Regional Projects Sorted by Construction Value

U.S. Construction Market | Market Snapshot Q4 - 2021

The Orlando market is still contending with the drop in tourism that came with COVID-19. Leisure travel is a key driver of the local economy — the city sees more tourists each year than Venice and Paris put together — so travel bans and shelter-in-place orders were catastrophic. There is, however, good news on the horizon. Orlando is still home to myriad attractions and amusement parks, so it remains a place that people want to visit. As soon as tourism recovers, the market will begin growing just as it had before. Tourism is a key industry here, but the economy is much more diverse than other cities with large tourism industries. The city is also home to several high-tech companies, defense contractors, and film studios. These industries kept unemployment lower than other cities and have contributed to Orlando’s economic performance. In anticipation of an active market in the next few years, the local construction industry has been steadily adding workers.

Total Construction Market Volume by Sector (x $1m, Nominalized 2012$) Annual Volume (x$1m, 2012$)

* This includes religious buildings, amusement, government communications and public recreation projects.

Regional Construction Employment

Construction Volume vs Labor - Annual Increase/Decrease Construction Spending Index 2010-2021 (2010=1.0)

Top Regional Projects Sorted by Construction Value

U.S. Construction Market | Market Snapshot Q4 - 2021

2021 stands out as an anomaly in Philadelphia. Its construction market has been steady, if not in decline, over the past few years due to a mixture of economic and demographic trends across the U.S. There simply is not as much demand for houses, roads, offices, and schools in tepid markets like Philadelphia or Chicago as there is in growing markets like Houston or Los Angeles. Thanks to remote work and low interest rates, however, the residential market grew by almost 50% in 2021. These projects are finally wrapping up, and old trends are expected to resume. Philadelphia represents a significant portion of Pennsylvania’s economic activity and has successfully pivoted from a manufacturing economy to a service economy in recent years. Several Fortune 500 companies call Philadelphia home, and the city has been a major hub for medicine since the colonial period. Even so, its unemployment rate has struggled to recover from the spike in April of 2020. This is expected to remain a significant obstacle to economic recovery for some time.

Total Construction Market Volume by Sector (x $1m, Nominalized 2012$) Annual Volume (x$1m, 2012$)

* This includes religious buildings, amusement, government communications and public recreation projects.

Regional Construction Employment Construction Spending Index 2010-2021 (2010=1.0)

Construction Volume vs Labor - Annual Increase/Decrease Top Regional Projects Sorted by Construction Value

U.S. Construction Market | Market Snapshot Q4 - 2021

Pre-pandemic trends are beginning to resume in the Research Triangle. As new houses and home renovations wrap up and people begin to return to their offices, the residential sector is expected to decline. Other sectors are expected to remain relatively constant over the next few years, with increases in one offset by decreases in another. As Raleigh is one of the fastestgrowing cities in the nation, the residential sector is the largest by far. In an area known as the ‘Research Triangle,’ it is no surprise that the area’s economy is centered around government research, universities, and technology companies. It is a contender for one of the most educated cities in the country, and this is a key driver of growth. Workers here were able to pivot to remote work with relative ease, and this has in turn kept restaurants, retail stores, and other services in operation. Both unemployment and construction employment have improved upon their prepandemic levels.

Total Construction Market Volume by Sector (x $1m, Nominalized 2012$) Annual Volume (x$1m, 2012$)

* This includes religious buildings, amusement, government communications and public recreation projects.

Regional Construction Employment

Construction Volume vs Labor - Annual Increase/Decrease Construction Spending Index 2010-2021 (2010=1.0)

Top Regional Projects Sorted by Construction Value

U.S. Construction Market | Market Snapshot Q4 - 2021

Washington, D.C. remains a steady market, seemingly unaffected by trends in demand caused by COVID-19. The federal government employs roughly one in four of the city’s workers, with many others working as contractors and consultants. This insulates the city from economic downturns, and this has in turn insulated its construction market. Federal workers still have disposable income, which spurs economic activity and in turn helps the city’s construction market. The residential sector remains the largest here, as the population of the city and surrounding suburbs continues to grow. This is expected to remain the case in the coming years. D.C. is expected to invest heavily in its infrastructure as well — particularly in expanding connections between it and the surrounding suburbs. Construction employment remains below 2019 levels, but as overall volume is expected to decline slightly, this is not expected to affect labor costs significantly.

Total Construction Market Volume by Sector (x $1m, Nominalized 2012$) Annual Volume (x$1m, 2012$)

* This includes religious buildings, amusement, government communications and public recreation projects.

Regional Construction Employment Construction Spending Index 2010-2021 (2010=1.0)

Construction Volume vs Labor - Annual Increase/Decrease Top Regional Projects Sorted by Construction Value