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The City of Houston issued $4.803 billion in building permits through the first seven months of ’23, down 0.6 percent from $4.834 billion over the comparable period in ’22.

• Nonresidential permits totaled $2.268 billion, down 17.7 percent from $2.754 billion in ’22. 
• Residential permits totaled $2.534 billion, up 21.9 percent from $ 2.079 billion in ’22.  

Through July, the city has issued permits for:

• $1.479 billion in commercial renovation work, up 6.8 percent from $1.384 billion over the comparable period in ’22,
• $319.5 million in residential renovation work, up 23.7 percent from $258.3 million over the same period in ’22,
• $789.5 million in new commercial construction, down 42.2 percent from $1.370 billion in ’22, and
• $2.215 billion for new residential construction (single-family, multifamily, duplexes), up 21.7 percent from the $1.820 billion in ’22.

Contract awards (which reflect construction activity in the near future) are down significantly in the metro area. 

Dodge Data & Analytics report contracts totaling $18.219 billion were let in the first seven months of ’23, an 11.1 percent decrease from $20.484 billion over the comparable period in ’22. If not for a significant increase in non-building (i.e., infrastructure) projects, awards would have fallen even further.

Through July, construction employment has been flat in Houston, with no new jobs added since January. The sector remains 12,800 jobs below where it was prior to the pandemic.

Prepared by Greater Houston Partnership Research Division 

Patrick Jankowski, CERP
Chief Economist
Senior Vice President, Research
pjankowski@houston.org

Clara Richardson
Research Associate
crichardson@houston.org