Toronto remains North America’s high-rise boomtown going into 2014. With 130 projects, the city heads a ranking compiled by Emporis, a provider of building data, of the North American cities with the most skyscrapers and high-rises currently under construction. New York is in second place with 91 buildings. Montreal follows with 25 high-rises.

New York has been making up ground: Since 2012, the city has recorded a growth in high-rise construction projects of 26 per cent, while Toronto’s numbers have receded slightly. While 2012 saw over twice as many high-rises under construction in Toronto as in the “Big Apple”, the gap is now only just under a third.

“On the basis of current developments, we assume that New York will catch up with Toronto as early as 2015,” says Matthew Keutenius, senior data analyst at Emporis.

Click on the chart for a larger image

The majority of the high-rises under construction in all cities are residential buildings. Current residential high-rise construction in Canada comprises almost exclusively condominiums, while in the U.S. it includes a relatively large proportion of rental apartments. For example, in Chicago 80 per cent of the residential high-rises currently under construction are to contain rentals. The sole exceptions to the U.S. trend are the cities of Miami and New York, where the residential towers currently underway will offer condominiums in 69 per cent and 54 per cent of cases, respectively.

Emporis defines a high-rise as a multi-storey building at least 35 metres high, or of 12 to 39 floors if the height is not known. High-rises of 100 metres or more, or that have at least 40 storeys, are categorized as skyscrapers.

For information: www.emporis.com