The tall building industry saw 26 supertall buildings — those 300 meters or taller — completed during 2019, the most in any year.

The record number of completions eclipsed the 18 supertall buildings that were completed in 2018, which was itself a record. It was also the sixth year in a row that at least one 500-meter-plus building was completed. The data were reported by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat(CTBUH).

Overall, 126 buildings of at least 200 m were completed in 2019, compared to 146 in 2018, a 13.7% decline. This was the first year in which the overall completion figure declined since the 2010-2011 period, which was attributed to the lag effect of projects cancelled due to the 2008 global economic recession.

The CTBUH said the tallest building to complete in 2019 was the Tianjin CTF Finance Centre, at 530 m. It is now tied for the third-tallest building in China with its sister tower, Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre (also 530 m) and is the seventh-tallest in the world. This marks the fifth year in a row in which the tallest building to complete is in China.

Of the 126 completions, 57 were in China, representing 45% of the total. This was a decline from 2018, when 92 buildings (representing 63% of the total) were completed in China.

Tallest buildings of 2019. Source: CTBUH

Asia (excluding the Middle East) overall contributed 87 of the 126 completions, for a 69% share; down from 110 completions for a 75.3% share of 2018’s total.

The CTBUH said that the United States was again the second-most prolific country, with 14 completions, for 11% of 2019’s total. The number was equal to 2018’s total, though the percentage represented was lower. North America represented 20 of the completions, or 15.9% of the world totals, compared to 16 of 2018’s completions, or 10.8%.

It was followed by the United Arab Emirates, with nine completions, down from 10 in 2018. The Middle East overall recorded 11 completions, down from 13 in 2018.

Malaysia and India tied at seven completions and the Philippines had five. In 2018, Malaysia also recorded seven completions, India had zero; and the Philippines had one completion.

At the city scale, Shenzhen, China was once again the world champion, CTBUH said, besting its own record for the fourth time in a row, with 15 completions, for 11.9% of the global total. The next-most prolific city was Dubai, with nine completions.

The African continent and the nation of Algeria alike got a new tallest building in 2019: the Great Mosque of Algiers (265 m).

On the opposite end of Africa, The Leonardo (227 m) a hotel and apartment tower in Sandton, metropolitan Johannesburg, South Africa, became that nation’s new tallest building and the second-tallest building on the continent.

The Lakhta Center in St. Petersburg became Russia’s and Europe’s new tallest building at 462 m. It is also the world’s 13th-tallest building.

In Brazil, no building had exceeded 200 m until 2019. That landmark was claimed by the Infinity Coast Tower (235 m) in Balneario Camboriu, a beach resort city.

For 2020, CTBUH currently projects between 115 and 145 completions of buildings at least 200 m in height. Of these, between 17 and 30 are expected to be supertalls (300 m and higher).

The Shengjing Finance Plaza in Shenyang, China, has 15 buildings in the complex, three of which completed in 2018; and the remainder are under construction and set to complete in 2020 and all but one exceeds 200 m. In the Middle East, the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is expected to substantially complete, which could release up to five 200-meter-plus buildings (of which two are supertalls) into the statistics. In North America, New York City has 10 buildings that are 200 m and higher likely to finish in 2020, two of which are supertalls.