Santo Domingo East accounts for 34.1% of the construction projects, and Santo Domingo North for 16.1%. However, the National District represents more than 40% of the total built area.
SANTO DOMINGO – The growth of construction in the Santo Domingo metropolitan area is no longer measured solely by the number of projects started, but by which ones actually move forward. The most recent figures from the Building Supply Registry (ROE 2025-2), published by the National Statistics Office (ONE), show a sector that, far from stagnating, is undergoing a process of reorganization.
The total area built grew by 3.4%, but this growth coexists with a seemingly contradictory fact: 60.6% of construction projects are currently stalled.
The key lies in how this growth is distributed, as there are fewer new projects overall, but a greater proportion of existing ones are at a standstill.
According to the ROE 2025-2, a total of 6,981 works are registered, areduction of 8.4% compared to the previous measurement and the perception of the drop is stronger because new projects decrease by 22%.
At the same time, existing works are gaining prominence because they now represent 81.1% of the total, which is not a minor technical detail, but rather marks a change in the logic of the market: fewer works are started and more are continued, but above all, there is more dependence on projects that were already underway.
Despite the reduction in quantity, the total construction area reaches 6,601,066 m², an increase of 3.4%, according to ROE 2025-2, a difference between the number of works and the volume built that confirms a structural change: fewer projects, but of greater size or continuity.
Less is being built… but more is being built
The most confusing data point is that of the standstill, since the report indicates that six out of ten works are stopped, but that does not mean that the sector is paralyzed.
When we look at the built area, the reality is different: 71.4% of the square footage is under construction, and only 23.4% corresponds to stalled projects. In other words, what's stopped is not the same as what's driving the market.
On the other hand, a kind of "filter" emerges within the construction sector: small works, which dominate in number, are also the most vulnerable to stopping, while larger-scale projects concentrate most of the investment, advance with greater continuity and end up defining real growth.
The ROE 2025-2 indicates that 60.6% of projects are stalled, compared to 20.4% underway. However, in terms of area, 71.4% are underway and only 23.4% are stalled.
It is the same logic that already appeared in the ROE 2025-1, but in the measurement published recently it is accentuated: the works that are progressing are fewer, but larger and more decisive.
Another important change is the increase in active works, which go from 74% to 83% of the total, while completed works fall by 45.5%, suggesting that projects remain in the system longer, either because they are built more slowly or because they are sold more slowly.
When size matters
In the ROE 2025-2 results, the data by size is also revealing. 2.3% of the projects, those larger than 15,000 m², account for 38% of the total built area, while an additional 24% comes from projects between 5,000 and 15,000 m².
In contrast, 78.6% of the works do not exceed 500 m² and if only the number of projects is observed, the market seems atomized: 50.3% of the works have between 100 and 200 m².
However, this distribution is misleading in terms of real impact because in practice, many small projects predominate, with low impact on the total built, compared to a small group of large-scale developments that concentrate investment and activity.
These results point to a deepening of a trend already identified in ROE 2025-1: the market is filtering projects and favoring those of greater scale and financial backing.
This behavior also reflects a macroeconomic context. According to data from the Central Bank, the construction sector has maintained moderate growth in recent periods, in an environment of higher interest rates, more restrictive financing conditions, and higher material costs.
This scenario helps explain why fewer projects are being started, while larger projects are the ones that manage to sustain themselves.
A city built unevenly
Santo Domingo East accounts for 34.1% of construction projects, and Santo Domingo North for 16.1%. However, the National District represents more than 40% of the total built area. This trend is consistent with the findings of the 2025-1 ROE report, which already showed an expansion towards the peripheries and a concentration of value in the city center.
This reveals a clear pattern: the periphery produces volume, while the center concentrates value and scale, with larger and more stable projects.
Taken together, the data from the Building Supply Registry (ROE 2025-2), from the National Statistics Office, paint a picture of a sector that is not contracting in the traditional way, but rather reorganizing itself.
There are fewer works, but also a greater concentration on large-scale projects, a greater weight of active works, and a more marked territorial dynamic.
The result is a more selective and segmented market, with higher demands in terms of finance and execution. This is not a temporary trend, but a change in the structure of the sector.
Rather than a decline, what is observed is a reconfiguration of the construction market, which remains one of the engines of the Dominican economy, but with less dispersion and greater concentration.
This marks an increasingly clear difference between who can develop a project and who manages to complete it.
Recommended readings:
- The 2025-1 ROE confirms the collapse of the affordable market and record highs in the premium segment
- According to the ROE, which materials are most commonly used in construction?
- Construction projects intended for single-family homes have the highest rate of work stoppages, according to the ROE report
