Dallas-Fort Worth’s construction boom ranks second nationally in 2019

Dallas-Fort Worth was the second-busiest building market in the country last year with almost $22.5 billion in construction.

Only New York City had more total construction — both residential and nonresidential — than the D-FW area, according to information from Dodge Data & Analytics.

It was the fourth year in a row that annual building starts in North Texas topped $20 billion — an unheard of pace of construction for the D-FW area.

About $10 billion of local construction starts were for nonresidential commercial projects — everything from office buildings to retail and warehouses — which rose 14% from 2018.

Residential building starts totaled about $12.6 billion, down 12% from 2018’s total, according to Dodge Data.

“Last year will go down as one of the most volatile years for monthly construction starts due the lumpy nature of large projects,” Richard Branch, chief economist of Dodge Data & Analytics, said in the report. “Looking beyond the influence of these massive projects, it is evident that the uncertainty surrounding trade policy weighed on construction activity last year.”

Building volumes fell in 13 of the major markets Dodge Data tracks.

Houston ranked third nationally for construction starts with $18.7 billion in building. And Austin ranked 11th with $12.3 billion in construction.