This year is shaping up to be a positive one for new construction in Houston.

Residential construction spending in the Houston area was up 10 percent year-over-year in July, but so far in 2015 is only 3 percent ahead of where it was last year.

Those stats came courtesy of the latest Dodge Data & Analytics report, a monthly look at residential construction activity in the nation’s largest metro areas.

Houston Agent assembled a series of graphs on Dodge Data’s findings. Below is total residential construction spending in July:

As with previous months, the overall construction activity in Houston remains among the highest in the nation.

Houston’s year-over-year growth, though, is on the lower side:

Yearly stats can be volatile, and an area’s year-to-date progress is a better indicator of the market’s actual health:

At 3 percent, Houston’s YTD growth is even lower, and is a sign of just how influential the world’s oil prices are on Houston’s construction industry. The Bayou City’s overall construction activity is still the best in the nation, but the double-digit jumps of 2013 and 2014 are unlikely to repeat this year.