NEW YORK CITY—Given the New York City metropolitan area's size and scale, it should come as no surprise that the region led Dodge Data & Analytics' ranking of the top US metro areas by the dollar amount of new commercial and multifamily construction starts for the first half of 2015. A total of $17.3 billion of commercial and multifamily projects in the New York metro area broke ground between January and June, up 72% from a year ago.

Impressive as that year-over-year growth is, the New York region posted only the fourth biggest percentage gain among Dodge Data's top 20. Las Vegas (up 181%), Kansas City, MO/KS (up 116%) and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL (up 89%) all bested New York on that score, although the dollar increases were far smaller.

The New York region's dollar growth for new starts, at more than $7.2 billion, was nearly nine times as large as the number-two ranked metro area for dollar volume, Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach, which rose 38% Y-O-Y to just under $3 billion. Rounding out the top five were Washington DC, $2.4 billion in new starts (down 15%); Boston, $2.2 billion (up 21%); and Seattle, $2.1 billion (up 49%).

For the US as a whole, commercial and multifamily construction starts during the first half of the year were reported at $73.2 billion, up 13% from a year ago. In Dodge's definition of the commercial and multifamily construction universe, project types include stores, warehouses, office buildings, hotels, garages and service stations as well as multifamily housing.

“Market fundamentals such as occupancies and rents continue to show improvement, which supports further growth for commercial and multifamily construction,” says Robert A. Murray, chief economist for Dodge Data & Analytics. “While the expansion for the overall economy remains tepid, as shown by the 2.3% growth for GDP in the second quarter, commercial and multifamily development continues to be a prime focus of the investment community in its search for yield.”

Nonetheless, Murray points out that the level of construction starts for commercial building is still well below the peak volume of the previous decade, even with double-digit gains over the past four years. “Multifamily housing has shown steady growth since 2010, which has generated some concern about overbuilding, particularly in the New York City metropolitan area,” he says. “Still, New York City is seeing an even greater amount of multifamily construction starts this year, and the national multifamily upturn is now broadening in terms of geography, with construction gains taking place in more metropolitan areas.”