Tennessee is now seeing a 31.5% increase in construction spending since the start of COVID, which is in total contrast to the downturn we saw when the pandemic first hit.

The seasonally adjusted annual amount of construction spending hit a low of $547 billion nationwide in May of 2020. But by August, construction spending started to go back up throughout America. In fact, construction spending topped $700 billion every month since December.

To give you a better idea of progress, 8,900 homes that are still standing today were built between 1920 and 1959 in Rutherford County. At the time, local residents were likely convinced the population was growing too fast. Little did they know that years later would equal the real growth.

The major boom in construction and population hit Rutherford County between 1990 and 2009, with a little more than 62,200 new homes being built.

Looking at the entire state of Tennessee, researchers at Construction Coverage analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Building Permits Survey to rank the percentage change in value of new residential building permits authorized from the first quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021.

The analysis found that the total value of new residential building permits issued in Tennessee during Q1 of 2021 amounted to approximately $2.6 Billion — up 31.5% from $2.0 Billion in Q1 of 2020.

Here is a summary of the data for Tennessee:

- Percentage change in value of new residential building permits: +31.5%
- Total change in value of new residential building permits: $622,320,000
- Value of units authorized in 2021 Q1: $2,597,828,000
- Value of units authorized in 2020 Q1: $1,975,508,000

For reference, here are the statistics for the entire United States:

- Percentage change in value of new residential building permits: +27.4%
- Total change in value of new residential building permits: $18,831,856,000
- Value of units authorized in 2021 Q1: $87,499,909,000
- Value of units authorized in 2020 Q1: $68,668,053,000

For more information, a detailed methodology, and complete results, you can find the original report on Construction Coverage’s website: https://constructioncoverage.com/research/cities-with-biggest-increase-in-construction-spending-2021