NEW YORK CITY-The New York Building Congress reported Wednesday that construction spending in the city for 2010 was down 12% compared to 2009. Last year saw spending at $23.7 billion.

While construction spending looks bleak, signs point to an increase in development. Massey Knakal, for instance, reported that sales of development sites for Q1 2011 hit $29.8 million in Brooklyn, a 157% increase over the same quarter last year.

Despite this bright spot, Richard T. Anderson, president of the New York Building Congress, doesn’t think the increase in development--particularly at previously stalled sites--means much. “People are hopeful and optimistic, but it really doesn’t add up to anything,” Anderson tells GlobeSt.com. “The last numbers that we looked at showed the stalled sites were growing.”