Mountain States City Scoop: Construction Starts in Denver
Construction Starts Expected to Climb 7% This Year, Buoyed by a 10% Rise in Residential Work
Non-residential activity will be mostly flat, with a jump in institutional work offset by weakness in manufacturing buildings.
City Grill
Michael Leccese
Executive Director
Urban Land Institute (ULI) Colorado
“The Denver and Front Range markets continue to be very strong but somewhat out of balance. On the very positive side is our highly educated populace, growing urban sophistication, diverse economy and, of course, natural environment,” Leccese says. “This makes the Front Range experience hard to match for its combination of walkable and bike-friendly neighborhoods, lively downtowns, thriving arts scenes, big city sports, transit and access to outdoor recreation. Yet the growing lack of housing affordability threatens to slow growth and constrain the workforce for everything from service industries to construction labor to management positions.”
Several recent housing surveys, among them one in December by the real estate group Point2Homes, rate Denver among the “seriously unaffordable” cities for housing, 14th highest in the U.S. and 18th highest in North America. That’s in line with cities like Dallas and Portland, Ore.
“ULI members and our communities are working hard to address this difficult issue. But there are no easy answers,” Leccese says.
