The good news is that the baseline contract value of projects in the region's Top Starts rankings rose to $127 million last year, more than double that of 2010. The not-so-good news is that the combined total of the 25 projects in the rankings only reached $7.9 billion, a 10% decline from 2010 and down 58% from the $18.6 billion posted in 2009.
The decline is in line with the latest data from McGraw-Hill Research & Analytics. It shows that 2011 total starts for the entire New York, New Jersey and Connecticut region fell 14% from 2010, to about $38 billion. The regional industry, like the national market, continues to bounce along the bottom, analysts say.