Dodge Construction Network (DCN) reports that construction spending rose in December, propelled by increases in the residential and nonbuilding sectors. DCN’s data shows that total construction starts grew by 2.6% in the final month of 2025, while nonresidential building starts fell by 6.6%, residential starts increased by 1% and nonbuilding starts grew by 16.3%.

Year-to-date, total construction starts were up 5.4%, nonresidential starts were up 4.5% and residential starts were down 4.8% when compared to 2024.

“Nonbuilding construction, alongside data centers, was the primary engine of growth in 2025, supporting a 5.4% expansion in the total dollar value of starts,” says Sarah Martin, DCN’s associate director of forecasting. “In square footage terms, however, building starts declined 4.7% alongside weaker residential, manufacturing and institutional activity.”

According to DCN, commercial starts were up 9.8% in December, in part thanks to growth in offices, data centers, hotels and warehouses. Retail starts declined between November and December. Institutional starts also fell, dropping 16.3%, driven by weaker education and miscellaneous institutional starts. Manufacturing plunged 30.8% in December.

In 2025, nonresidential starts increased by 4.5%, commercial and industrial starts rose 10.9% and institutional starts declined 1.9% when compared to 2024.

The largest nonresidential building projects to break ground in December were the $1 billion Google Data Center in West Memphis, Arkansas, the $750 million CyrusOne Data Center in Whitney, Texas, and the $714 million SNA Data Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Single-family starts decreased 4.5%, while multifamily starts gained 10.2%. In 2025, residential starts decreased 4.8%, with single-family starts down 13.2% and multifamily starts up 13.1%.

The largest multifamily structures to break ground in December were the $502 million Launiu Ward Village Condominiums in Honolulu, the $500 million The Alloy Block Residential Tower in Boerum Hill, New York, and the $272 million SDSU Mission Valley Residential Building in San Diego.