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New York City is experiencing a “roaring recovery” in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which could be good news for glazing industry companies working in the area.
New York City is experiencing a “roaring recovery” in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which could be good news for glazing industry companies working in the area.
According to the 2022-2024 New York City Construction Outlook, published by the New York Building Congress and New York Building Foundation, the city jumped from $38 billion in construction spending in 2021 to $86 billion in 2022. The report uses data from sources such as Dodge Data & Analytics, the NYS Department of Labor, Public Sector Capital Plans, the U.S. Census Bureau and Urbanomics.
“Against all odds, construction spending and building levels over the next three years are projected to be relentlessly bullish in the face of economic headwinds and seismic changes in the city’s workforce patterns,” the report states.
Increased Commercial and Government Spending
Spending in the non-residential building sector is forecast to increase nearly 57% in the next few years over the pre-pandemic period of 2017-2019. As demand shifts, as well as cost inflation and maintenance and/or development, the sum of all non-residential construction investment is expected to peak above $33.7 billion by year’s end.
Additionally, spending in the government building sector is expected to increase to nearly $21 billion in 2022 and up to $26.9 billion in 2024. The report indicates that over the next two years government spending on infrastructure development will dominate the construction market.
NYC expects to spend around $270 billion overall on construction throughout the next two years.
These increases are attributed to investments in office space, retail, hotels, institutional development, and entertainment venues, among others. Some of the largest construction projects in the next two years include 66 Hudson Blvd., 3 Hudson Blvd., 5 World Trade Center, 200 Greenwich Street and 99 Hudson Blvd.
Several factors could dampen the outlook, however. These include cutbacks in development over the remaining months of 2022, failure to find a suitable replacement for 421-a (a section of the New York State Real Property Tax Law that exempts certain new multiple dwellings from local property taxation) and a reduction in price increases.
Employment
The growth in construction activity is forecast to keep the number of workers at stable levels throughout the next two years. The New York Building Congress anticipates employment in the construction of buildings, heavy and civil engineering and specialty trades to total 139,000 jobs in 2022, 143,000 in 2023 and 142,500 in 2024. Despite the positive outlook, the number of projected workers is expected to lag behind the pre-pandemic high of 161,183 workers in 2019.
Pointing to construction activity serving as a bellwether for a region’s economic health, the New York Building Congress says the report’s finding proves once again that the “strength, resilience and determination of hard-working New Yorkers cannot be shaken.”
That is why the traffic congestion in Manhattan has gotten significantly more unbearable. The number of cars has not increased but the number of street obstruction related to construction has gotten worse.