PHOENIX, AZ Rider Levett Bucknall - international property and construction consultants and industry leader in construction cost research - announces the release of the second edition of its new North American RLB Crane Index. The report measures construction activity in major cities across North America and predicts the health of the U.S. construction industry.

According to the new issue of the Index, the residential market - specifically high-rise condominium and apartment developments - will continue to lead growth in the overall industry throughout 2015. Commercial and mixed-use developments are also contributing to crane activity.

"Our findings indicate that residential developments are driving high-rise construction activity with a significant lead over other project types," said Julian Anderson, President of Rider Levett Bucknall North America. "While commercial and mixed-use projects are also showing increases, collectively, we are seeing over 50 percent more cranes working on residential projects than those working on projects in all of the other sectors combined."

The North American RLB Crane Index identifies Boston, Calgary, Chicago, Denver, Honolulu, New York, San Francisco, and Toronto as having 50 percent to 83 percent of cranes on major residential developments, followed by commercial and mixed-use projects. The Index further reports that:

New York's 70 cranes are dedicated to high-rise luxury residential and mixed-use. developments in Manhattan. Nearly 5,377 new condominiums will be available in 2015, citing Corcoran as a source.
Los Angeles' increase of 11 cranes over the past six months is dominated by mixed-use (21 cranes) and condominium/apartment projects (18 cranes).
Washington, D.C., shows 31 cranes in its skyline, an increase of five over the past few months, with 58 percent of them on residential and mixed-use developments.
Mixed-use and commercial developments are also contributing to crane counts in Phoenix, Portland, and Seattle.

Rider Levett Bucknall's local offices gather data and information for the Index via surveys and other collection methods, including physically counting all fixed cranes appearing on each city's skyline. This count is performed twice yearly and provides the baseline data for the Index.