This year proving to be surprisingly nuanced for Houston new construction

Residential construction spending in the Houston area totaled $791 million in April, a stark 24 percent decrease over the $1.038 billion of April 2014, according to the latest report from Dodge Data & Analytics.

Thus far in 2015, Houston’s new residential construction activity is still 7 percent over the same time period in 2014. April’s declines, though, suggest that the recent declines in oil prices are in fact affecting future Houston construction activity.

Based on Dodge Data’s numbers, below are graphs that compare Houston’s new construction marketplace with those of other large metro areas. The first graph shows residential construction spending in April:

Despite Houston’s yearly decline, its numbers remain far ahead of the pack.

But again, that yearly decline is not pretty to behold:

With the exception of Boston’s surprising drop, Houston has the biggest decline in the nation, among large metro areas.

And finally, here is a graph on year-to-date numbers, which shows other areas pulling ahead of Houston’s lead: