U.S. construction starts slipped 1.5% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.33 trillion, Dodge Construction Network reported on Oct. 21, 2026. Commercial projects fell back sharply after a strong August, but gains in schools, highways and other public work kept the overall total close to flat.
The small move follows two months of large swings. Total starts jumped 25.6% in July on a run of data center and chip-plant megaprojects, then fell 24.8% in August as that surge unwound. September’s figure leaves activity just below August’s $1.34 trillion pace.
“Construction starts edged lower in September, but gains in institutional and nonbuilding construction helped cushion the decline,” said Sarah Martin, director of economic research at Dodge Construction Network. “These sectors provided a counterweight to weaker commercial and single-family starts.”
September construction starts by sector
- Nonresidential building: down 6.3% to a $583 billion annual rate
- Nonbuilding (infrastructure and utilities): up 5.5% to $377 billion
- Residential: down 0.3% to $366 billion
The longer view is much stronger than the monthly one. Through the first nine months of 2026, total starts were up 14.3% from a year earlier. Nonresidential was up 23.7%, nonbuilding up 18.4% and residential down 1.7%. On a rolling 12-month basis through September, total starts were 13.6% above the prior 12 months.
Commercial pulls back after a big August
Commercial starts fell 18.4% in September. Hotel starts, which Dodge said had a very strong August, dropped 46.3%. The office and data center category, which Dodge reports as one group, fell 21.4%, and manufacturing starts fell 21.0%. Parking garages rose 33.9% and commercial warehouses edged up 0.8%.
The monthly drop in the office and data center category did not mean the big projects stopped. Data centers were the three largest nonresidential projects to break ground in the month, according to Dodge:
- the $4.6 billion South Valley Data Center in Silver Springs, Nev.
- the $4.3 billion Beacon Point Data Center in Robstown, Texas
- the $2.0 billion Vantage V41 Data Center Campus in Fredericksburg, Va.
Year to date, commercial and industrial starts were up 46.3%. Over the 12 months ending in September, commercial starts were up 47.7% and manufacturing up 3.4%. Read alongside the monthly project lists, those figures suggest that much of this year’s nonresidential growth has come from a relatively small number of very large projects. Earlier this month, Dodge’s planning data showed commercial planning falling 14.9% when data centers were excluded.
Institutional work moved the other way. It rose 16.3% in September, led by a 38.4% jump in education starts and a 6.5% gain in miscellaneous institutional projects. Healthcare slipped 3.0%. Institutional starts were still down 1.8% for the year to date.
Infrastructure and power keep climbing
Nonbuilding starts rose 5.5%. Highway and bridge starts were up 20.8% for the month, miscellaneous nonbuilding projects were up 13.7% and environmental public works were up 0.8%. Utility starts fell 4.1% in September, but the category is still where the year’s biggest growth has been. Electric power and utility starts were up 70.1% year to date, and utility and gas starts were up 90.8% over the past 12 months.
Solar projects led the month’s list of nonbuilding groundbreakings. They included the $1.7 billion Big Rooter Power Solar project in Bremond, Texas, and the $1.6 billion Entergy Cypress Solar project in Redfield, Ark.
Single-family falls again as multifamily rises
For housing, the split between building types continued. Single-family starts fell 7.4% in September, while multifamily starts rose 11.3%. Year to date, single-family was down 4.5% and multifamily up 3.0%. Over the past 12 months, single-family fell 7.6% and multifamily rose 5.3%.
The largest multifamily projects to break ground in September were all high-rise towers in major metros:
- the $820 million Four Seasons condominium tower in Austin, Texas
- the $544 million One Montague Place mixed residential and commercial tower in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y.
- the $329 million Ombelle mixed-use residential tower in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
West surges, South Central drops
The regional picture was mixed. Starts fell 20% in the South Central region, 13% in the Midwest and 1% in the Northeast. They rose 33% in the West and 7% in the South Atlantic.
Dodge’s monthly totals reflect the dollar value of projects as they break ground, so a handful of multibillion-dollar starts can move the national number by several percentage points. On our reading, the steadier signals are in the year-to-date and 12-month figures. Those show nonresidential and power construction running well ahead of 2025 while single-family homebuilding contracts. More construction and development coverage is in our commercial real estate section.
