The years since 2003 have seen a steadily increasing volume of construction in New York City in all categories—infrastructure, including transportation and public works; commercial office, hotel, and retail; and residential.

NYBC: Historically, the relationship between residential and non-residential construction has been that one sector surges ahead while the other lags. What’s been different about the latest prolonged boom is that both residential and commercial have been strong.

The New York Building Congress reported in its October 2007 New York City Construction Outlook that construction spending in all categories would exceed $26 billion in 2007. Just four years earlier it was $15 billion

New York's record building boom will have one more fairly good year before coming to a halt in 2010, when the effects of the current financial crisis will push construction employment to its lowest level since 1997.

The number of construction jobs will nosedive from its peak of 130,100 this year to 100,250 in 2010

By 2010, builders are expected to create only 18,500 new residential units in the five boroughs — nearly a 50% drop from the record 35,700 units this year.

Let’s go to an issue that, in our opinion, doesn’t get discussed enough but that is crucial to New York’s economic future—and that’s the comparative costs of construction. New York’s costs are higher than in any other city in the country. One productive outcome of today’s financial crisis is that some costs could be—and surely should be—negotiated downward.

Increases in costs have affected all construction across the country, not only in New York, although the rate of increase has often been much greater here due to the number and size of both public and private projects, as well as the limited availability of high-quality firms to perform this work. The Building Cost Index for the United States, prepared by Turner Construction Company, shows sharp increases beginning in 2004.