SoFla’s residential construction starts rise in October, commercial plummets

Residential construction in South Florida picked up in October, year-over-year, while commercial construction dropped off significantly, according to a new report by Dodge Data & Analytics.

Commercial construction starts decreased 34 percent last month to $453.7 million, while residential construction starts increased 3 percent to $686.2 million according to the report.

Due to the sharp decline in commercial construction, total building activity dropped 16 percent to about $1.14 billion in October, year-over-year.

Commercial construction includes office, retail, hotels, warehouses, manufacturing, educational, healthcare, religious, government, recreational, and other buildings, while residential includes single-family and multifamily housing, according to the report.

On a year-to-date basis, commercial starts fell 4 percent to $4.86 billion, while residential spiked 27 percent to $6.08 billion. In September, residential construction already outpaced last year’s total of $5 billion in residential spending.

Year-to-date, total building activity increased 11 percent to $10.9 billion.

Despite the increase in residential building (which includes multifamily), federal data suggests the apartment boom may be waning thanks to a consecutive monthly decline in building permits.