Residential construction drops in South Florida: report

South Florida had a 27 percent year-over-year decline in residential construction last month, the latest McGraw-Hill Construction data shows.

Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties had about $308 million in residential contracts in July. The tri-county area had about $422 million worth of residential contracts in July 2013. Nonresidential contracts increase from about $245 million in July 2013 to more than $263 million last month.

About $2.6 billion in residential contracts were awarded during the first seven months of 2014. That’s a 14 percent increase from the first seven months of 2013. Nonresidential contracts declined from $1.56 billion to $1.53 billion during the same span. Overall, South Florida’s construction contracts rose 8 percent to about $4.1 billion during the first seven months of 2014. — Eric Kalis