International property and construction consultancy firm Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB) has released its latest Crane Index and Quarterly Cost Report. Together, the two documents provide an eye-opening perspective on the North American construction industry in 14 key markets, including Denver.
With data current to mid-Q3 2022, the latest RLB quarterly cost report shows that the national average increase in construction costs was approximately 2.24 percent for the quarter with Chicago, Phoenix, Portland, and Seattle all experiencing increases over the national average this quarter. Boston, Denver, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC experienced gains less than the national average.
Quarterly construction cost notes:
- The U.S. quarterly national average increase in construction cost is approximately 2.24 percent, compared to 1.51 percent year-over-year
- Between April 1, 2022 and July 1, 2022 the average increase in construction cost in Denver was approximately 2.02%, below the national average.
- The construction unemployment rate returns to pre-pandemic numbers of 3.7 percent, down from 7.5 percent in Q2 this time last year
- The Architectural Billings Index (ABI) returns to a modest pace of 53.2
Crane Index notes:
- Cities seeing an increase in cranes include Boston, Denver, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Portland, New York, and Seattle
- Cities holding steady in their crane counts include Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, and Washington D.C.
- Calgary was the only city with a decrease of greater than 20%
