The Partnership sends updates for the most important economic indicators each month. If you would like to opt-in to receive these updates, please click here.
For the latest data, click here.
Estimated Reading Time: 1 minute
The City of Houston issued $6.655 billion in building permits through the first ten months of ’23, down 6.0 percent from $7.082 billion over the comparable period in ’22. Adjusted for inflation, total permits are down 8.9 percent.
Adjusted for inflation, nonresidential permits are down 49.6 percent, residential permits are up 7.2 percent, and alterations and additions are up 6.0 percent compared to last year.
Contract awards (which reflect construction activity in the near future) are down significantly in the metro area. Dodge Data & Analytics reports contracts totaling $28.022 billion were awarded in the first ten months of ’23, a 20.1 percent decrease from $35.061 billion over the comparable period in ’22. If not for an increase in non-building (i.e., infrastructure projects), awards would have fallen even further.
Construction employment never fully recovered from the losses incurred in the early stages of the pandemic. As of November ’23, the sector had 19,000 fewer jobs than in February ’20. Given the ongoing drop in permits and awards, the sector will likely continue to lose jobs in ’24.
Prepared by Greater Houston Partnership Research Division
Patrick Jankowski, CERP
Chief Economist
Senior Vice President, Research
pjankowski@firstnews-extra.com
Leta Wauson
Research Director
lwauson@firstnews-extra.com
City of Houston building permits totaled $6.655 billion through Oct '23
Review the latest data on construction activity in the Houston market.
See which Houston-based companies are on the Fortune 500 list.
Review the latest information on home sales in the Houston region.