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Construction Downturn May Be Looking Up

NEW YORK CITY-A Building Congress analysis shows increased fourth-quarter activity, although Turner Construction's cost index reflects lower demand.

By Paul Bubny | Updated on February 26, 2010

NEW YORK CITY—Although the fourth quarter of 2009 showed signs of renewed strength in construction activity, the full-year numbers tell a bleaker story. A New York Building Congress analysis of McGraw-Hill Construction Dodge construction starts found that $16.6 billion worth of construction projects were started last year. That’s a 29% dropoff from 2008, when projects worth $23.3 billion got under way.

Complementing the Building Congress analysis was the release last week of Turner Construction’s First Quarter 2010 Turner Building Cost Index. The index, which measures non-residential building construction costs in the US, has decreased by 0.5% from Q4 ’09 and 7.74% year over year.

Construction costs have decreased by about 13.1% since their peak at the end of 2008—which also marked the peak year for New York City construction spending at $31.8 billion. The Turner Index value for the current quarter is 799.

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