So Is Construction Booming or Slowing?

Between the mayor and the major media outlets, we’ve noticed a lot of conflicting reports on the trends in New York City construction. Is it slowing or reaching record-setting levels? When will they stop making so much noise across the street at 7 a.m.? Or will they ever?

The answer, from the New York Building Congress, is that construction spending by the city, businesses and institutions will reach a record-setting $83 billion in the next three years. Last year, overall construction spending was $24.6 billion, and it should be up to $29 billion in 2009.

Residential construction, on the other hand, should be leveling off at around $5.2 billion by 2009. But perhaps that’s because the city already has so many new residential developments--35,000 housing units will be produced in 2007, according to the study, while only 9,000 were produced in 1997 and 18,500 in 2002.

So which is it? We may be running out of steam with residential construction, but that scaffolding isn’t going away anytime soon.