According to Engineering News Record, The July 09 building cost index for NEw York is down 1.1% since July 2008.
ENR noted that in NYC, Common Labor and skilled labor both remain essentially unchanged, while materials are off by 4%. Some cities in the country are showing as much as a 14% decline in costs. New York appears to be holding steadier because of the inflexibility labor rates. As i noted in an earlier post, according to RS Means, on a national basis, building materials are down 10% over a year. [The two reports are not necessarily computed the same way and are not always consistent.]
That said, sources tell me that general contractors are bidding more aggressively (in part because subs are anxious to retain skilled labor and they themselves are bidding more aggressively).
With smart materials substitutions, an individual developer can sometimes do a lot better than that 1% cost drop.
ENR noted that in NYC, Common Labor and skilled labor both remain essentially unchanged, while materials are off by 4%. Some cities in the country are showing as much as a 14% decline in costs. New York appears to be holding steadier because of the inflexibility labor rates. As i noted in an earlier post, according to RS Means, on a national basis, building materials are down 10% over a year. [The two reports are not necessarily computed the same way and are not always consistent.]
That said, sources tell me that general contractors are bidding more aggressively (in part because subs are anxious to retain skilled labor and they themselves are bidding more aggressively).
With smart materials substitutions, an individual developer can sometimes do a lot better than that 1% cost drop.
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