New commercial real estate development in the United States remains a major driver of economic activity, creating jobs, generating personal earnings, and producing significant contributions to the national and state economies, according to the Economic Impacts of Commercial Real Estate research study conducted annually by the NAIOP Research Foundation.
The combined economic contributions of new commercial-building development and the operations of existing commercial buildings in 2023 resulted in direct expenditures of $913.1 billion and the following impacts on the U.S. economy:
Contributed $2.5 trillion to U.S. GDP
Generated $881.4 billion in personal earnings
Supported a total of 15 million jobs
Total construction spending was up an estimated 5.6 percent in 2023 and accounted for approximately 20.6 percent of total GDP (including the multiplier effect). The subsector of nonresidential construction was a strong performe