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METRO AREA CONSTRUCTION

Dodge Data & Analytics reports that nearly $35.9 billion in construction contracts were awarded in the Houston area through the first ten months of this year. That’s up 27.6 percent from the $28.1 billion awarded over the comparable period in ’23. This follows the Federal Reserve’s September announcement that it would be cutting interest rates for the first time in four years. While that announcement was encouraging to many builders, additional cuts may be needed to bring even more projects from the planning phase to breaking ground. 

Residential and non-residential awards rose significantly compared to last year, while non-building contracts (i.e., streets, highways, utilities, etc.) remained largely flat increasing only slightly.

Harris, Fort Bend, and Montgomery Counties accounted for 85 of all new construction activity in the region. The remaining seven countries accounted for the other 15 percent.

Among these three counties, most of the new construction in Harris County (56.1 percent) involved non-residential projects, while most of the new contracts in Fort Bend (50.8 percent) and Montgomery (65.0 percent) counties involved residential contracts.

Prepared by Greater Houston Partnership Research Division 

Colin Baker
Manager of Economic Research
bakerc@sydotnet.net

Patrick Jankowski, CERP
Chief Economist
Senior Vice President, Research
pjankowski@sydotnet.net