A slowdown in construction of tall buildings around the world continues and is likely to persist for the near future, a report indicates.

(image: AI generated via freepix)

The Council on Vertical Urbanism (CVU) (previously known as the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat) has released the 2026 edition of its CVU 2026 Trends and Forecasts Report.

The report shows that the post-pandemic slowdown in tall building construction is continuing.

Worldwide, only 141 buildings of 200m in height or greater were completed across calendar 2025.

This is slightly higher compared with the 139 buildings that were completed in 2024 but is well down on the record 185 completions that was set in 2023.

It also represents the second lowest level of completions for the past decade with the exception of the COVID period in 2020 and 2021.

Largely speaking, the slowdown in completions reflects a lower number of commencements which took place in the years following COVID and the outbreak of the Ukraine and Gaza wars.

This has been driven by higher interest rates, tighter financing conditions, labour shortages, construction delays and uncertainty over future demand for office space.

(image source: CVU 2026 Trends & Forecasts report)

Long-term trends continue

The report also highlights four long-term trends.

First, China remains the epicenter of tall building construction.

All up, China accounted for 91 of the 141 buildings of 200 meters in height or greater that were completed in 2025.

Four Chinese cities – Shenzhen, Chengdu, Suzhou and Shanghai – featured in the top five cities for building completions of 200m in height or greater (along with Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur).

In fact, with its fifteen completions in 2025, Shenzhen become the first city in the world to surpass 200 complete buildings of 200m in height or greater.

The surrounding urban agglomeration, collectively referred to as the Perl River Delta, surpassed 300 such completions.

(image source: CVU 2026 Trends & Forecasts report)

Longer term, the focus of tall building construction has shifted away from North America and toward Asia and the Middle East (see chart).

In 1990, 82 of the world’s 100 tallest buildings were located in North America.

Nowadays, 60 of the tallest 100 buildings are in Asia whilst a further 18 are in the Middle East.

Despite this, the tallest building to finish in 2025 was the 423m JPMorgan Chase World Headquarters in New York City.

(image source: CVU 2026 Trends & Forecasts report)

A second trend involves the growth in mixed use and residential buildings.

Between 2000 and 2025, the number of pure office buildings that were in the world’s top 100 tallest buildings dropped from 84 to 40.

Over that time, the number of mixed use and residential buildings in the tallest 100 increased from 12 t0 49 and from zero to 9 respectively.

(image source: CVU 2026 Trends & Forecasts report)

Third, the report highlights the increasing prevalence of composite buildings.

Unlike all steel or all concrete structures, composite buildings use a combination of materials (most commonly steel and concrete) which are engineered to act together as a single structural unit.

This approach leverages both the tensile strength of steel along with the compressive strength and stiffness of concrete. It enables the creation of structures which are lighter, stronger and more efficient compared with those which could be constructed by using either material alone.

Up until the 1970s, most of the world’s tallest 100 buildings were all-steel structures.

Nowadays, almost two thirds (64) are composite structures whilst a further 22 are all-concrete buildings.

(image source: CVU 2026 Trends & Forecasts report)

Finally, the data indicates that the world’s tallest buildings continue to grow taller.

In 2025, the average height of the world’s 100 tallest buildings increased by 3.5 meters to reach a record 414.2 meters.

Over the past twenty years, the average height of the tallest 100 has increased from 292.3m in 2005 to 414.2 meters in 2025.

(image source: CVU 2026 Trends & Forecasts report)

Subdued conditions to persist

Looking ahead to 2026, CVU forecasts tall building completion numbers (200m in height or greater) to come in at only 140.

This will represent another subdued year (see chart above).

Whilst the global pipeline remains substantial (almost 400 buildings are under construction or topped out), CVU says that a record number of projects have either stalled or are on hold.

This is the case particularly in markets where financing constraints and post-pandemic economic adjustments have been substantial.

This is expected to lead to extended construction timelines and fewer near-term completions.

However, the CVU report also pointed to signs of confidence at the supertall end of the market.

In Saudi Arabia, construction of the Jeddah Tower resumed in January last year after being halted in 2018.

Targeting a completion date of 2028, the tower is expected to be the world’s first which exceeds one kilometer in height.

Meanwhile, construction started last year on the 725-meter Burj Azizi building in Dubai.

(At 423 meters, the JP Morgan Chase Headquarters in New York was the world’s tallest building to be completed in 2025. Image source: JP Morgan Chase)

Commenting on the report, CVU Chief Executive Officer Javier Quintana de Uña said that the market for tall buildings is now increasingly selective despite being active and expansive.

Whilst growth continues, he said that this is being marked by regional divergency, tighter financing conditions and a more cautious development pipeline.

“Tall building development is no longer about uniform acceleration,” Quintana de Uña said.

“What the data shows instead is a period of recalibration, wherein ambition persists, but delivery is shaped by economic realities, market demand, and long-term urban priorities.”

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