New Quarterly Cost Report from Rider Levett Bucknall Charts Construction Trends throughout North America

Rider Levett Bucknall has released its latest Quarterly Cost Report, providing an eye-opening perspective on the North American construction industry in 14 key markets.

The latest report, with data to mid-Q2 2024, shows the national average increase in construction costs was 1.12% over the previous quarter. Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; Honolulu, Hawaii; Los Angeles, California; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California and Washington, D.C. experienced increases over the national average this quarter. Denver; Las Vegas, Nevada; New York, New York; Phoenix, Arizona and Seattle, Washington experienced gains that were less than the national average.

“The construction industry continues to experience strong demand, but uncertainty is being fueled by high interest rates and increasing labor costs for the rest of 2024. The approaching presidential election and potential policy adjustments are also contributing to this uncertainty,” says Paul Brussow, president of RLB North America. “Nevertheless, overall growth in the construction sector is expected to remain positive this year.”

Quarterly cost report notes

• During Q2 2024, the U.S. national average increase in construction cost is approximately 1.12%, compared to 1.31% in the first quarter
• Year-over-year, the U.S. national average increase in construction costs is approximately 5.41%, compared to 5.85% YOY in the first quarter
• The construction unemployment rate is down slightly to 5.4%, down from 5.6% in the same period last year
• The Architectural Billings Index is 42.4, a decrease of nearly 6 points over the previous month

Read the complete QCR report here.