Construction has followed an uphill trajectory for the last year. That pattern broke slightly in September for the second month in a row.

According to the online industry analyst Dodge Construction Network, Boston, total construction starts declined 1.5% in September. They leveled off at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.33 trillion. Construction starts measure the total value of new projects that have recently broken ground. They are a key indicator of future construction activity. 

The September numbers represent a pause in what has otherwise been a much longer trend of increasing value. According to Dodge, total construction starts were still up 14.3% through September on a year-to-date basis, and up 13.6% for the previous 12 months, starting at the end of September 2025.

The September decline is also much smaller than the decline in August, when total construction starts fell 25%. Dodge attributes this to a levelling off or “normalizing” of construction activity after a spike in July. A similar spike also occurred in May. 

A more detailed view of the construction industry emerges when the numbers are broken down. For example, commercial starts fell 18.4% in September. At the same time, nonresidential building starts fell 6.3% and residential starts experienced a slight decline of 0.3%. Meanwhile, nonbuilding starts improved by 5.5%. 

These categories can be broken down further to get even greater detail. Within the commercial sector, for example, hotel activity declined 46.3%, while offices and data centers dropped 21%.

Dodge also notes some of the largest projects to break ground in September. This includes several multibillion-dollar data center projects in Nevada, Texas and Virginia. 

The largest nonbuilding projects to break ground include several solar installations of almost $2 billion each in Texas and Arkansas, and a power line project of just over $1 million in Nevada.