433,589 Hotel Rooms Under Contract in U.S.A.

According to the March 2015 STR Pipeline Report, there are 3,566 hotel projects totaling 433,589 rooms Under Contract in the United States.

This represents a 13.7% increase in the number of rooms Under Contract compared with March 2014, and a 22.7% increase in rooms under construction.

“The number of U.S. rooms under construction hit 126,171, which is an increase of almost 23% versus March 2014 but a decrease of about 2% from this past February,” said Bobby Bowers, STR’s senior VP for operations. “While Upscale and Upper Midscale brands continued their dominance of the construction numbers, Upper Upscale topped 14,000 rooms in construction - a 45% increase versus March 2014. That rise is another indication that the appetite for risk and return is increasing.”

Among the Top 25 Markets, New York, New York, reported the most rooms Under Contract with 29,928 rooms. Others rounding out the top five markets for rooms Under Contract include: Houston, Texas (17,458 rooms); Las Vegas, Nevada (12,484 rooms); Dallas, Texas (11,337 rooms); and Washington, D.C.-Maryland-Virginia (10,698 rooms).

New York had the largest number of rooms under construction (13,368 rooms), followed by Houston with 6,173 rooms.

“New York’s in-construction number is almost 12% of its existing supply, and it accounts for roughly 10% of total U.S. construction,” Bowers said. “Houston is second, but a lot of new supply coupled with sliding oil prices is not the best combination.”

Three other markets reported more than 3,000 rooms under construction: Miami/Hialeah, Florida (4,026 rooms); Chicago, Illinois (3,572 rooms); and Washington, D.C. (3,435 rooms). Markets with more than 2,000 rooms under construction include: Los Angeles/Long Beach, California (2,820 rooms); Seattle, Washington (2,427 rooms); San Diego, California (2,276 rooms); and Dallas (2,243 rooms).

The Under Contract data includes projects in the In Construction, Final Planning and Planning stages but does not include projects in the Unconfirmed stage.