Construction has always been one of the best ways to determine if the real estate market recovery is spreading beyond a handful of urban areas. With employment numbers increasing in big cities like Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Chicago developers are now feeling more optimistic about breaking ground on developments that had been planning since before recession. Another sign that activity improves is the monthly Architecture Billing Index, which indicates the future construction activity. The index shows optimism as it rose in July to the highest point since before the recession.
Excerpts from the Article:
“Construction projects in cities across the country that stalled during the economic downturn now are getting the green light, an indication that the real-estate recovery is spreading beyond a handful of urban areas.
The construction of office buildings, hotels and apartment buildings picked up in New York, San Francisco and Boston several years ago. Now activity is spreading to Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas and a number of other cities that are finally seeing a pickup in employment, economists say.”
Brown, E. (2014) U.S. Construction Shifts Into Second Tier, WSJ, Real Estate, pg.1
http://online.wsj.com/articles/u-s-construction-shifts-into-second-tier-1408488077