North Texas builders turned up the volume in 2022 with almost $16.7 billion in commercial construction starts.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area was second in the country to only New York City for commercial building activity last year, according to a new estimate from Dodge Data & Analytics.
Starts of commercial buildings and apartments in the D-FW area were up 51% from 2021 levels and more than doubled from 2020 totals. North Texas building activity last year grew by twice the national rate to a record high.
And D-FW had the largest percentage construction increase among the 10 largest markets.
The largest D-FW project that made Dodge Data’s annual list included the $314 million Hall Park tower addition in Frisco and a $206 million Walmart distribution center.
North Texas apartment starts rose 48% from 2021. The largest multifamily projects included $119 million Hanover Preston Hollow residential building on Northwest Highway in Dallas and the $177 million third phase of the Trinity Green apartments in West Dallas, according to Dodge Data.
“The year 2022 will go down as a banner year for construction starts,” Richard Branch, chief economist for Dodge Construction Network, said in a statement. “Even when adjusted for inflation, commercial and multifamily starts were impressive as construction activity began to move back toward downturn urban cores.
“This pace of activity, however, is unlikely to be sustained in 2023 as the economy is slated to slow and approach stall speed,” he said. “Commercial and multifamily construction starts are likely to take this on the chin and post declines for the year.”
Nationwide commercial building activity rose last year by 25% to $159 billion. The 10 largest metro areas accounted for 40% of all commercial and multifamily starts during 2022.
Two other Texas cities were on Dodge Data’s top-building market list. The Houston area started $8.7 billion in projects last year and in Austin developers broke ground for about $8 billion in new commercial and apartment projects.
The D-FW area has been one of the country’s top building markets for several years.
The area leads the nation in building of hotels, apartments and industrial space.
While the nationwide commercial real estate market is flashing red signs because of high interest rates and recession worries, prospects for North Texas remain good.
A new poll of investors ranks North Texas as the best market in the nation for commercial real estate prospects in 2023.
The D-FW area led the country in commercial property investment in 2022 with $42.5 billion in investments.
