According to a recent quarterly report from Rider Levett Bucknall, construction costs are up between 5% and 11% from last year. The steady rise in costs could possibly lead to home builders canceling or stalling projects, which could impact the already-hurting housing market.
These costs are happening in every one of the markets RLB’s index tracks, including 12 in the U.S. and two in Canada. But these issues aren’t hitting uniformly, with some parts of North America seeing much higher increases.
In the U.S., costs have increased the most in the Seattle area, where there’s been an 11.28% rise compared with April 2021. Chicago, Boston, New York, and Denver all saw construction cost increases of 8% or more compared to last year. In Toronto, costs are up more than 14% from last year. The slowest rate of cost increases was seen in Honolulu, though costs there are still up more than 4.5% from last year.
