Construction in the U.S. dropped by a little more than 1 percent in February, according to data that measure the dollar value of the volume of construction performed nationwide, released by the U.S. Census Bureau today.

The $808.9 billion spent on construction in the U.S. was down 1.1 percent from December’s total of $818.1 billion. Of that, $527.29 million was spent privately, with $280.84 million spent on residential construction, relatively even from the amount spent in January — $246.39 million — and up 5.6 percent year-over-year, from $233.40 in February 2011. [more]

Key Biscayne's Oceana project and Coastal Construction CEO Tom Murphy

South Florida’s surprising condominium rebirth has generated enough sales — and interest — that developers have more than 25 condo projects either underway or in the planning stages. What it also means is another rebirth for the region’s construction industry. One project seeing interest is the $250 million Oceana on Key Biscayne, a development by Argentina-based Consultatio being built by Coastal Construction. To learn more about the new surge in South Florida construction, The Real Deal talked to Tom Murphy, the CEO of Coastal Construction, about the new condo boom and the future for South Florida’s recently dormant construction sector. [more]

Steve Holzman, a Boynton Beach commissioner, and a rendering of the under-construction Seabourn Cove

Like much of South Florida, Boynton Beach real estate values plummeted during the housing crisis and by the 2010-2011 budget year the city’s total property value was just 40 percent of what it was four years earlier.

But according to the Sun Sentinel, there are signs of life in Boynton Beach, particularly in the construction industry. [more]

Flood damage from Tropical Storm Alberto in 2006

New statewide building codes taking effect March 15 will increase the costs of constructing and renovating properties along South Florida’s coastal areas.

The Sun Sentinel reported that the codes require buildings be constructed to withstand more floodwater in coastal areas, with some needing stronger ties to foundations and others needing to be built on top of dirt one to three feet taller than current codes permit. [more]

Economists project the housing sector will contribute to economic growth nationally for the first time since 2008, Bloomberg News reported.

Multi-family units will lead the construction industry out of their rut, according to Michelle Meyer, a senior economist at Bank of America, and Celia Chen, an economist at Moody’s Analytics. Meyer predicts that work will begin on 260,000 apartment buildings and townhouse developments countrywide in 2012 — up 45 percent from last year, while Chen projects 310,000 developments will break ground, an improvement of 74 percent from 2011. [more]

Florida construction jobs are down significantly from 2006

Florida construction employment has fallen by 52 percent since the peak of 2006, according to the Associated General Contractors of America. “The construction industry remains a shell of its former self in too many states,” AGCA CEO Stephen Sandherr said in a release. “Making long-overdue investments in our nation’s aging roads, bridges and transit systems will put people back to work and give a needed boost to the broader economy.” There were a total of 329,400 jobs construction jobs in the state last month, down from just under 690,000 in 2006. [SFBJ]

Florida lost 4,800 construction jobs in October, the second-highest total in America after Texas, according to the Associated General Contractors of America. With 11,600 lost construction jobs statewide in the last 12 months, construction was the worst performing industry group in the state, the South Florida Business Journal reported. “Construction employment gains are likely to remain spotty for months to come,” said Ken Simonson, chief economist with Associated General Contractors of America. “Local factors, rather than regional or industry trends, seem to dictate whether a state has rising or falling construction employment in a given month.” [SFBJ] [more]

Building permit activity has fallen since the crash in 2007, but there are signs that builders have almost completely stopped activity in a number of states, where no one seems to want to buy a new home. At the top (or bottom) of the list is Rhode Island, where building permits have declined 70.81 percent in the last six years, and there are just 312 building permits so far this year. New York, which has one of the largest housing markets in the country, has seen 11,033 building permits in 2011, but that number is a 61.8 percent drop from 2005 — and less than half of the 28,921 permits taken out in 2005. Florida is not among the top 10. [MSNBC]
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Low national employment in construction and government are large factors responsible for the bleak recovery so far, economist Floyd Norris wrote in the New York Times. In previous recoveries before 1990, construction was often a leading contributor to economic growth. According to Norris, this was because earlier recessions were often caused by the Federal Reserve bank pushing up interest rates, leading to a cut-off in the supply of mortgage credit. As a result, when banks could lend again, construction activity would increased markedly. In this case, construction is down in spite of low interest rates, as easy credit led to significant overbuilding. The slump in construction employment, beginning in 2006, has continued, even after the National Bureau of Economic Research concluded that the recession was over. [more]

Miami-Dade’s construction industry is on track to add jobs for the first time since October 2007. The county, which lost 43 percent of its construction workers since June of that year, may have reached bottom. According to the county’s June jobs report, employers shed just 300 jobs, a less-than-1 percent drop which could signal an improvement ahead. In Broward, on the other hand, construction jobs fell 8 percent in June. [Miami Herald]
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