Boston’s construction starts rose last month overall, according to recent data from Dodge Data & Analytics. Despite this increase, however, Boston still lacks inventory when it comes to residential construction. The report considered all June 2017 construction starts in the Boston area.
Total spending increased from $904.6 million to $1.2 billion, a notable 33 percent increase from what it was at the same time last year. This was due to a 62 percent jump from nonresidential starts, which rose from $525.6 million spent to $866.6 million spent. Not surprisingly, however, residential spending continued to decrease year-over-year. These starts fell 8 percent from June 2016.
When it comes to year-to-date data, total construction spending has actually fallen 3 percent since the start of Q1 2017. This isn’t surprising given that residential spending continues to plummet — it has fallen 38 percent so far this year, according to the report. On the other hand, nonresidential starts have risen from $2.7 billion spent at the beginning of the year to $3.6 billion — a 33-percent year-to-date increase.
| Construction Type | June 2017 | June 2016 | Change |
| Nonresidential | $866,658,000 | $535,615,000 | 62% |
| Residential | $340,097,000 | $369,052,000 | -8% |
| Total Building | $1,206,755,000 | $904,667,000 | 33% |
| Year-to-date | YTD 2017 | YTD 2016 | Change |
| Nonresidential | $3,673,786,000 | $2,766,628,000 | 33% |
| Residential | $1,766,503,000 | $2,828,347,000 | -38% |
| Total Building | $5,440,289,000 | $5,594,975,000 | -3% |