New home construction is up by 27 percent in the Austin area, according to MetroStudy. The real estate tracking firm says there were 1,952 starts in the first three months of the year. That’s 413 more than the same quarter last year.
MetroStudy’s Austin market director Madison Inselmann says the surge in new building is helping to lift pay for construction workers.
“Also, the suppliers for the home building market were not prepared for such a strong jump as well, so it’s material such as lumber, concrete to a degree that are also weighing on builders’ bottom line," Inselmann said.
Austin’s economy added almost 30,000 jobs in the last year. According to February’s jobs report, the fastest growing employment sector was construction.
