Florida jumped ahead of the rest of the nation in October with the addition of 40,100 new construction jobs, representing a 10.4-percent increase over the previous year.
South Florida held the largest concentration of growth, with Miami-Dade County leading at 12.3 percent with 4,400 new jobs. Palm Beach County was up 7.6 percent with 2,100 jobs and Broward County increased their job count by 4.9 percent with 1,700 jobs, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
J. Antonio Villamil, an economist at The Washington Economics Group, credits foreign investment, low-rate mortgages and an improved employment market with creating the demand for new condo and apartment construction. “We’re starting to attract younger millennials. Broward is having success in corporate headquarters. This all increases the demand for apartments and good housing,” he said.
However, Villamil noted that developers aren’t returning to the construction levels of the 2004 to 2006 boom because banks have become stricter when it comes to financing projects. Despite the nationwide increases in new construction job, economist Ken Simonson of the Associated General Contractors of America warned that recovery is still unsteady because the number of new jobs varies monthly and could be hurt by worker shortages or unhelpful governmental actions. [South Florida Sun Sentinel] – Chris Guanche