San Francisco has overtaken Tokyo as the world’s most expensive city for construction, according to a new report from Turner & Townsend.
The cost for construction in San Francisco is $439.29 per square foot. North America had four markets in the top 10. New York City ranked fourth, Boston ranked eighth, and Los Angeles ranked ninth.
Cost increases in North America were due to the strengthening of the U.S. dollar, higher building material costs driven by supply chain disruptions, and high labor costs. The report found that 38.6% of markets surveyed were classified as “hot” (28.4%) or “overheating” (10.2%). These markets have conditions that risk acting as a brake on development. This is an increase of 10% over 2021, while the number of “cold” markets fell from six to one.
The rankings with the price per square foot, according to the report, are:
- San Francisco $439.29
- Tokyo $433.37
- Osaka, Japan $423.49
- New York City $419.67
- Geneva $402.47
- Zurich $398.16
- Hong Kong $393.58
- Boston $371.46
- Los Angeles $369.92
- London $363.23
Related Stories
| Jul 9, 2014
First Look: SOM's design for All Aboard Florida Fort Lauderdale rail station
The lightweight and luminous design "responds to its setting and creates a striking infrastructural icon for the city," said SOM Design Partner Roger Duffy.
| Jul 8, 2014
Does Zaha Hadid’s Tokyo Olympic Stadium have a design flaw?
After being criticized for the cost and size of her stadium design for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, a Japanese architect points out a major design flaw in the stadium that may endanger the spectators.
| Jul 8, 2014
Frank Lloyd Wright's posthumous gas station opens in Buffalo
Eighty-seven years after Frank Lloyd Wright designed an ornamental gas station for the city of Buffalo, the structure has been built and opened to the public—inside an auto museum.
| Jul 7, 2014
A climate-controlled city is Dubai's newest colossal project
To add to Dubai's already impressive portfolio of world's tallest tower and world's largest natural flower garden, Dubai Holding has plans to build the world's largest climate-controlled city.
| Jul 3, 2014
Gehry edits Canadian skyscraper plan to be 'more Toronto'
After being criticized for the original tower complex, architect Frank Gehry unveils a new design that is more subtle, and "more Toronto."
| Jul 2, 2014
First Look: Qatar World Cup stadium design references nomadic heritage
Organizers of the Qatar 2022 World Cup, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, recently unveiled designs for the second stadium.
| Jul 2, 2014
SHoP designs what would be Brooklyn's tallest building
JDS Development partners with SHoP to construct a 70-story building at 775-feet tall, unprecedented for downtown Brooklyn.
| Jul 1, 2014
Winning design by 3XN converts modernist bathhouse to university library
Danish firm 3XN's design wins competition for a new educational facility for Mälardalen University in Sweden, which will house a library, communal spaces, and offices for 4,500 students and staff.
| Jun 30, 2014
Philip Johnson’s iconic World's Fair 'Tent of Tomorrow' to receive much needed restoration funding
A neglected Queens landmark that once reflected the "excitement and hopefulness" at the beginning of the Space Age may soon be restored.
| Jun 30, 2014
Narrow San Francisco lots to be developed into micro-units
As a solution to San Francisco’s density and low housing supply compared to demand, local firms Build Inc. and Macy Architecture each are to build micro-unit housing in a small parcel of land in Hayes Valley.
