The Associated Construction Contractors of New Jersey (ACCNJ), in partnership with Otteau Valuation Group, released their MarketCAST report for Q4 2025, which showed total construction spending increased 13% in New Jersey and declined 1% nationally, compared with 2024.
Spending is projected to rise 5% in 2026, according to Managing Partner and Chief Economist Jeffrey Otteau. The provides data on New Jersey’s construction landscape and insights on economic growth in New Jersey compared with national trends.
“New Jersey’s construction industry continues to play a critical role in driving economic growth and investment across the State,” said Jack Kocsis, Jr., chief executive officer of ACCNJ. “The level of planned construction activity reflected in this report demonstrates strong confidence in New Jersey’s future.”
While construction jobs in New Jersey have decreased by more than 10,000 year-to-date, compared with the loss of 1,000 construction jobs nationally, there is about $124.3 billion worth of future spending planned in New Jersey. This reflects a 29% increase compared with the $90.6 billion reported at the end of 2023. Otteau noted future projects such as the $1 billion Netflix Studios Fort Monmouth under development will add up to more than $8 billion in economic output.
By volume, the civil sector saw the most construction starts at $4.8 billion, followed by the healthcare and education sector and the Single-Family Sector, both at $2.9 billion. Spending in New Jersey is showing increases in all but one category, with multifamily about the same as 2024. The largest increase in spending occurred in the government sector.
“New Jersey experienced solid growth in the construction sector in 2025, and we see potential for strong future growth here in the State,” said Otteau. “While new project starts slowed modestly, increased construction spending, strong performance in the government and commercial sectors, and stabilized construction inflation are good indicators for continued growth in the year ahead.”
Otteau did note that geopolitical uncertainties have changed the inflation forecast for 2026 but said that construction cost increases in North and South Jersey at 2.9% and 4.1%, respectively, year-over-year are not near pandemic-level cost inflation which rose over 18%.
