Report: Metro area construction contracts soar in September

The value of contracts for future construction in the metropolitan area soared in September from a year earlier on a big increase in nonresidential projects, according to a new report.

Dodge Data & Analytics, an industry information service, reported this week that contracts worth $6 billion were awarded last month in the 23-county region that includes Long Island. That’s 160 percent higher than the $2.3 billion recorded in September 2015.

Nonresidential contracts, for commercial properties such as offices, hotels, factories and warehouses, totaled $4.8 billion in September, a 269 percent gain year over year.

Residential contracts rose 16 percent to $1.2 billion.

The value of building contracts in the metro area declined year over year in April, May, June and July before climbing in August and last month.

Despite September’s big gain, contracts for the first nine months of 2016 are still down 19 percent from January-September 2015. They totaled $30 billion compared with 2015’s $37.4 billion.

The drop-off was steepest for residential contracts, which totaled $14.4 billion in the first nine months of this year, off 25 percent from the same period in 2015.