Crane Index: Seattle Construction Steady in 2015
Here’s a new commercial property index that’s easy to grasp: Rider Levett Bucknall’s North American Crane Index, which tracks the number of fixed cranes on construction sites in major cities across the continent. By that measure, Seattle’s doing very well indeed. “Seattle’s North American RLB Crane Index number grew from 46 to 51 between August and October of last year,” RLB associate principal Steve Kelly tells us. “We expect that the number of cranes—and therefore the level of construction activity—will continue to increase in 2015.” This steady increase, mainly because of growth in the residential sector, will be augmented by a number of hospitality developments getting underway this year.