Santo Domingo high-rise towers concentrate 71% of construction space

A report from the National Statistics Office (ONE), titled ROE 2026-1, reveals a significant vertical disparity in the urban development of the Santo Domingo metropolitan region. The data shows a massive gap between the number of construction projects initiated and the actual square footage being built.

While small-scale projects—those costing less than $500 per square meter—account for 79.3% of all registered works, they contribute only 11% of the total square meters constructed. In contrast, large-scale developments and mixed-use complexes costing over $5,000 per square meter represent just 4.7% of the total number of buildings, yet they concentrate 71.8% of the more than 7.8 million square meters of registered construction.

The trend is even more pronounced in the luxury segment. For massive projects with costs exceeding $15,000 per square meter, 78.8% of works remain fully active and under execution. This shift toward vertical densification is driven by a restructuring of investment capital and a scarcity of buildable land in central urban areas, leading developers to prioritize high-rise towers to maximize land profitability.